Does going to therapy mean that I’m crazy?
No! Most people who seek out psychotherapy are psychologically whole. That is, all of their cognitive and psychological processes are present, and none are so greatly damaged that they are going to end up in a mental hospital or as a street person. Even when a person suffers a breakdown or has to be hospitalized, there is usually a full recovery. The effect of psychological processes that prevent an integration of feelings and thoughts is what causes most people to seek psychological help. That is, the person must keep certain thoughts or feelings out of awareness to protect him or her self from disruptive and potentially overwhelming emotional reactions. The result is that the person functions in ways that he or she experiences as inappropriate and unrewarding. They may call this crazy. The truth is that the person is behaving (responding) quite sanely, given his/her internal representations of self and of how others are likely to respond to him/her. From this point of view, psychothe