Sorginetxe.undefined, a photo by Roberto Cacho on Flickr.
p. 88
'Labouring
under the illusion that it was my responsibility to make Lily happy in life,
her depressions were almost daily reminders of my failure.
Entering
psychotherapy with genuine intent is always an act of considerable courage.
The most
painful thing for me back then was that she couldn’t talk about her
depressions. Her feelings were too overwhelming for her to talk, too
overwhelming for her even to be able to think.
Psychotherapy
has its detractors, and not without reason. Some psychotherapists are good,
some mediocre, some poor, and some even harmful. Sometimes psychotherapy is
attempted when the chances of success in the best hands are less than one in a hundred.
Occasionally patients enter therapy with spurious motives.
Substantial
psychotherapy is successful … only when
it becomes a way of life.
As
psychotherapy becomes a way of life, one becomes a contemplative: a person who
focuses at least as much upon her inner world as upon the outer one. Daydreams,
night dreams, thoughts and feelings, insights, intuitions, and understandings all
assume ever-increasing importance.
It is not
that external realities – other people, social problems, dirty dishes, and
deadlines – are neglected; it is that more time is spent in comprehending
them. Contemplatives become more thoughtful. Yes, they need to withdraw from
the world to a certain extent. They need, in comparison to others, much
solitude. As a consequence, they may in some sense do less, but that which they
do, they do thoughtfully, and in the long run they may end up actually
accomplishing more.'
Scott M. Peck, 1995, In Search of Stones
Simon & Schuster, London
