The Road to Wellness by Robyn Tamanaha, LMFT
There are many things to keep in mind when beginning your journey to healing. Oftentimes, people make comparisons about themselves in relation to others, but when it comes to therapy it’s important to focus on your own journey and creating a path that works for you.
Each person has their own story to tell. Although people with the same diagnosis may share similar symptoms, how they express their symptoms and struggle can vary. Each person also carries with them specific influences on their story, such as their own family dynamics, upbringing, cultural influences, and lifestyle that will shape their life experience.
The degree to which a person’s life is impacted by their diagnosis or struggle varies from person to person. Major areas of a person’s life include relationships, work, school, and how they take care of themselves. One person may find that they’re having difficulty maneuvering through all major areas of their life, another person may find that they can get through work and take care of themselves, but their relationships are on the fence, and another person may be able to get through all areas of their life but their main source of struggle is on the inside and how they feel about themselves.
There’s no one size fits all approach. You customize what works for you, whether it be a combination of therapy, psychiatry, support groups, and/or group therapy. Or you may decide that you want to try only one. The fact that you try one shows that you are invested in yourself, which shows a lot strength. When it comes to individual therapy there are strategies and treatments that have shown to be the most helpful, but which ones will work best is dependent on what the person is struggling with and if a person would like to practice that strategy. Each person in therapy is also active in their own treatment plan and decides what it is they would like to work on.
There is no set deadline. Some sources of pain stay longer than others. Some sources of pain don’t completely go away, but over time the amount to which the pain affects a person may decrease. Both are okay. For example, let’s say that a person comes to therapy in order to adjust to college and will learn skills and strategies to manage the stress of academics and a new school. Once this person has adjusted they would end treatment, if there is nothing else to attend to. Alternatively, a person who comes to therapy for bipolar disorder will begin reflecting on their life experience with changes in mood, practice strategies to find out which ones work for them, identify how relationships and demands in life may be triggering changes in mood as these stressors occur, and then work on maintenance of their lifestyle and symptoms. As you can see, the second person is working on things that will take much more time.
Want to know more?
You don’t have to do this alone. If you are interested in receiving therapy with me, let’s schedule a free 15-minute phone consult.
My office is located in Irvine, which is near Newport Beach, Orange, Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa, Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills, Tustin, Seal Beach, and beyond. I work with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and Asian American & Pacific Islanders.
Disclaimer: This information is being provided to you for educational and informational purposes only. The topics being discussed are meant as a self-help tool for you own use. It is not psychotherapy or counseling. This information is to be used based on your own judgment. If you need to speak with a professional, you should find one local to you and contact them directly.
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