Nature and life are in constant motion and change. Stillness and stuckness are an illusion. But then why is that we feel hopeless when we are depressed and why is it that we can’t see change when we feel low and sick? Through psychotherapy and medicine we seek relief from sickness and distress and look for positive outcomes, health and emotional wellness. The need for accountability and effectiveness shape current practices, the requirement to base these practices on scientific evidence, and the pressure to produce positive outcomes.
Psychotherapy is effective and when evaluated produces positive outcomes. Over the years these outcomes have remained the same. New therapies and methods have not improved the overall results and effectiveness of therapy. It appears that specific techniques and methods have not much to do with what makes psychotherapy effective. It is rather the general relational aspects of therapy that make people feel better. These relational components of therapy are also the factors that make medication effective. The specific chemical compounds of medication are less relevant than the medicine that the prescriber has to offer which is his or her empathy and relationship skills. For more information check: Barry L, Duncan and Scott D. Miller’s web pages.
I view change as healing and healing as change. But nature doesn’t always produce the outcomes we want and hope for. A process perspective allows us to embrace the ongoing flow of nature which in my view includes the cultural forces that inform the field of psychotherapy and medicine. Our social environments inform our everyday practice and the expectations of our clients and their families. Process Work facilitates the dynamics of the clients social environment and his or her ability to bring out and believe in the inherent intelligence of his or her experience. Paradoxically it might include trusting in the self-healing powers of sickness, stuckness and hopelessness.