The Rock in Your Shoe
There are a number of medications frequently used which can alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression, and clients often believe that they will be unable to control their symptoms without using medications.
My
approach is to try to treat these difficulties without medications. The
metaphor I use for this approach is that of having a rock in your shoe.
If you have a rock in your shoe, your foot will hurt when you step on
it.
You can use medications which would make your foot stop hurting or which
will make you unaware of the pain in your foot.However,
the rock is still there, and if you stop the medications the pain will
return.
So it's important to figure out how to take the rock out of your shoe. The physical pain is seen as a symptom, a red flag, indicating that something is wrong which needs to be fixed. The pain is a symptom of the problem, but is not really the underlying problem. Taking away the symptom may make you more comfortable but it doesn't resolve the cause.
Emotional
pain is like physical pain, often a symptom of a problem rather than the
problem in and of itself. People often try to improve the symptoms only,
but then miss the opportunity to fix the underlying cause.
For example, if you feel depressed because you are in a highly stressful
situation at work and you often fight with your partner, taking medication
may help you feel better, but it will not solve the difficulties which
are causing the depression.
I prefer to work with clients to understand what is causing the symptoms
and determine what the individual is able to do to help relieve the underlying
problem.
Go to Anxiety and Depression page 1
Go to Anxiety and Depression page 3
