Progress in Therapy Is Not Linear (and That's Okay)

One of the most common and frustrating ideas during the process of
therapy, is the belief that therapeutic advances will come in a linear manner and
progressive.

The idea that progress in our psychological and emotional well-being, I would be
a kind of staircase that we climb little by little, step by step.
This perspective can play tricks on us, since therapeutic progress
It is not something linear.

Like everything in life, this process is full of ups and downs and
periods of flourishing and stagnation. Sometimes it's even necessary to take a step back.
to then be able to take two steps forward.

If we think about it for a moment, this pattern does not only apply to the therapeutic process,
Nature and life itself are not linear. Plant growth is intermittent and discontinuous; there are times to take root and times to bloom. The seasons follow one another slowly and progressively,
Sometimes the weather can change more from one day to the next than from one week to the next.

Sometimes in spring the winter cold returns, and in autumn we have days that seem to be taken from
The middle of July. Nature is discontinuous, intermittent, and abrupt. It is not linear, and
We as part of it are not either.

In therapy there will often be moments of progress and evident improvement, but
also of doubt and stagnation. There may even be moments of
setback, and we feel that we must again face something that seemed overcome.

That in no way means that you are not moving forward, that logic is part of the process of
progress in therapy and it is a sign that we are working properly. Those little
Blocks sometimes come to teach us that there is some skill that we need to reinforce,
making us review from another angle the learning that we apparently already had
sufficiently internalized.

At these times it is key to keep some ideas in mind so as not to lose perspective.
Progress is not always in how we feel, but in how we respond to what
we feel.

We not only move forward by eliminating patterns and behaviors that hinder us
harm, the mere recognition of these patterns is already a step forward in itself. Asking
helps in situations that previously led us to shut ourselves in, or tolerate the
emotional discomfort instead of trying to eliminate it with behaviors that in the long run
We know that they will end up harming us more.

All of this is also progress, although it is not a constant, straight-line progress.

Life has ups and downs, curves, advances and setbacks, calms and storms; and as I couldn't
being otherwise, the path to well-being too.