We psychologists often worry. I worry. Most of the colleagues I know are worried. When dealing with uncertainty and anxiety, I show uncertainty and anxiety, like that). This is a role model of a therapist: this is how I demonstrate that you can worry and still continue to do important things - conduct therapy, for example. We worry about our clients and the progress of therapy with them. “Are we going in the right direction?” “I don’t know what’s best to do to make him feel better!” And, in the end: “Blah, that’s bullshit I was talking about.” last session! What if this makes him worse/he leaves therapy?” We don’t have a universal recipe for “What to do and how to live.” If there was one, psychologists would not be needed,” the computer gave the man a piece of paper, and he read it. and lived long, happily and carefree. But there is no such recipe. Therefore, psychologists are needed. There are general recommendations, there are work protocols. But still, for each client - his own therapy, his own strategy. And that’s why psychologists are worried. “Are we going there?” “What is the best thing to do now?” And the list goes on) Do you know what I have noticed over the years of practice? Psychotherapy – this is just AWESOME. I work in approaches with more or less clear protocols and the ability to track, predict and stimulate the processes occurring in the client’s head. I know and can do hundreds of useful things. I can arrange them into such beautiful and effective schemes that you will simply be shaken. I’ve been learning how to conduct psychotherapy for years. And still, EVERY client sooner or later makes me “AWESOME!” We are working on some problem. And so we dig into her, and so on. And we dance around with a tambourine and wave ribbons. Not at all. Can’t decide. And then a week/two/month passes. The client comes and is like: “Ah, pff-ff, like two fingers on the asphalt! What’s the problem? So it’s not a problem. It’s already been solved. Let’s work on the next one.” Damn, how? What happened? What did you do? How can you be so cool? Teach me too, huh? Or, at the tenth meeting, during the greeting, you’ll say some routine phrase like “it’s sunny today,” and the client will start spouting insights! And I understood and realized this. And you sit there, blinking your eyes, jotting it down in a notebook. What got him hooked? What was the trigger? How did he get to this point? AWESOME! Of course, all these processes can be tracked. But POST FACTUAL. After they happened. To record a chain of thoughts and actions and give it to the client so that he can then apply it in similar situations. But never to predict. At least, it never worked out for me. I can’t say in advance: “At the next meeting he will realize and start acting, I’m sure.” It’s fucking unpredictable. It’s AWESOME every time. And it’s cool. And I’m writing this because we, psychologists, worry a lot. For clients and for your actions in therapy. Because we want to help. Well, at least I really really want to. I sincerely care about my clients. What if you continue to want to help, and at the same time take into account the element of surprise? The fact that we cannot accurately predict in advance how one or another of our actions will affect the client? Maybe then it will be possible to reduce anxiety a little and add acceptance of any consequences? It seems to me that it is possible. For our part, we can do the maximum for careful and efficient work. But this maximum [something of an achievement word, it should be replaced] is not everything. A lot lies beyond our sight and control. Let's leave some of the responsibility to the clients and chance. That will be fair. You can get to know me better on my website