The 11 Most Helpful Tools and Lessons I Learned From 5+ Years of Therapy
Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I love therapy.
Don’t get me wrong, therapy can be emotional and difficult, but it also gives me a lot of insight that helps me handle my emotions and struggles. I’ve learned tools and sentiments that totally change my perspective and help me feel better when I’m overwhelmed and don’t know what to do.
Essentially, therapy probably saved my life.
While I’ve learned countless tools and lessons, I want to share the main 11 that come to mind in hopes they help others with similar challenges.
1. The Model of Emotions
According to this model, in which you can see the chart here, a “prompting event” can occur. The way we interpret this event, as well as vulnerability factors, play a role in how we feel afterwards. We may then have a secondary feeling after that first feeling. Through this model, we can figure out what aspect we want to work on in therapy, and how we can stop one aspect from leading to the next in a negative way.
For example, a friend may be short with me. I may be feeling tired, so between my tiredness and my friend’s unkind words, I may believe that I did something wrong and that I’m a bad friend. In turn, I may feel guilty…
