CBT and Beyond

I was not a believer in change. I’d constantly blame my surroundings and thought that my problems would not be solved unless they changed. Therefore, I spent these last years in despair and anger, believing that I was desperate, that I could not change those around me, Read More that I was unlucky. In 2016, through the insistence of a friend, I took a step that was unexpected of me and started therapy. It was a difficult process at first. I can't even believe my previous beliefs myself while currently writing this. I had obsessions, I thought it was just my character, I believed that they were impossible to overcome. Everything has changed for me, but the best one is that, those around me changed with me. It’s like a miracle. Right now, I’m much more peaceful. More hopeful. I always say to those around me now that change, no matter how old you are, is possible. You just have to take a step.

There are some moments in life, in which the decisions you make affect you for a lifetime. It was one of those moments, starting therapy with you. Every week, the present me leaves through the door I once entered as hopeless, Read More hurt, angry, depressed and without expectations about the future. I have faith in myself, and I enjoy being myself. I enjoy wandering around with myself in the stores that I once could not enter alone. I am experiencing the happiness of greeting the new year and making holiday plans with my mother, whom previously I could not bear to stand around even for 15 minutes. Each week, you’ve taught me that the heavy burdens, problems, despair, and the solutions to those problems that seem like mountains impossible to overcome, are in fact possible to resolve by taking small steps. And when I look behind, I see that even overcoming the highest of mountains is possible, taking one step at a time.

When I turn back and look at what has changed from those days when I first started seeing you, I myself cannot even believe in the positive developments which occured in my life. I’m grateful that in those moments when I could find no way out, Read Morewhen I was the most hopeless, you caused me to find the keys to the doors inside of me. The best method I got from the whole therapy process can be summarized as "impossible = i’m possible". And only through simply changing the way of thinking.

When starting therapy, it was very important for me to be functional and to achieve good things in my life. However, throughout the therapy process, I noticed that this goal was causing me to be anxious and angry. I saw that I’d criticize myself for no reason. Read MoreI realized that I couldn’t enjoy my successes because I couldn't achieve the perfection I’d envisioned for myself. I saw that this made me intolerant of others and that my critical characteristic prevented me from loving people. On the other hand, it seemed impossible to feel love for someone who was perfect and knowledgeable. The fear of making mistakes prevented me from doing anything other than what I was sure of, and as a result I could not turn to new goals. The awareness of these problems initiated a process of change, based on hope for the future. There is no longer a place for anxiety, pessimism and negative ideas in my life, as much as possible. My biggest goal in life is to replace the thoughts that harm myself to those that are useful. Developing a healthy relationship with myself and others, increasing my self-confidence and creating emotional balance are the main changes in my life. I possess the necessary energy and awareness in order to achieve these now, and the therapy sessions are a very important tool and key for these fundamental changes.