When people come for therapy ,they have either symptoms like depression ,anxiety or relationship issues. Sometimes they are referred for multiple physical symptoms,like chronic pain,headache,irritable bowel ,gastritis which is linked to stress levels.
This dependence on another person(a therapist) for help arouses anxiety as depending on people in the past meant getting hurt. When the patient gets anxious ,he uses his regular coping strategies which he has learnt would help him survive or keep the relationship, These strategies helped him in the past because then the thought of losing a relationship with a caregiver on whom the patient depended on for survival was terrifying, but the same strategies in current relationships may cause his symptoms and problems.
Therefore any attempt to know the patient arouses feelings and anxiety and patterns of coping with anxiety.As feelings arise in the therapy ,so will anxiety and unconscious self defeating patterns . Together the patient and therapist can notice them and the patient can work towards more adaptive choices and work more closely with his feelings and wants to reach his real potential ,with least distress.
