Many clients arrive to therapy with the mantra: “I just want to understand my anxiety/my trauma/my procrastination.” And then add, “I want to get to the bottom of it.”

It sounds reasonable. We examine our worries, fears, mistakes, and problems because we believe understanding will bring relief. We ask why we feel this way, why this happened, and why we cannot seem to change. Surely the right explanation will finally set us free. And unfortunately, we mental health professionals have often promoted such strategies.

But consider the results. Have these investigations brought lasting change, or have you repeated essentially the same questions thousands of times? The mind offers a familiar promise: “This time, I will figure it out.”

Somehow, yesterday’s exhausting investigation disappears from consideration, and we begin again.

Your mind does not respond to endless analysis like a physics problem or a broken engine. Identifying a failed engine part can lead directly to a repair. Repeatedly investigating an anxious thought can produce more anxious thoughts. Reflection has value when it informs a useful choice; endless digging can become the habit keeping you stuck.

Imagine Waking Up in a Deep Hole

You awaken at the bottom of a very deep hole. Far above, you see daylight. Along the wall are steps leading toward the opening, perhaps ten thousand of them. Climbing........

© The Saratogian