Repitition and Working Through

People often come to therapy after having run up against the same issue and situation time after time. You may feel as though you are back at square one and have made no progress.  This feeling that arises is a result of a repetition or repeated pattern or dynamic.  The hurtful repetition or the repetition that wounds is what causes a repetitive injury to one’s psyche and heart.  Repetitive wounds of the heart are like scar tissue wounds of the body– they become ingrained and difficult to recover from.  We often close ourselves off and develop defenses to protect against future or potential harm.  And when these defenses grow harmful or helpful– we begin to seek out a new way of working through these issues.  

In therapy, we also run ito these repetitions– albeit in a more nuanced and sublte way.  My task as a therapist is to not avoid these repetitions, but identify them and help us to find a way out.  Getting caught up in a repetition or enactment is all part of the therapy process, and it is through this working through, that we can begin to heal.  The task of therapy is to see how we are repeating the past, and finding a new and creative means for resolving the conflict or enactment.  Through this working through, we can find a new ending, and break out of our wounding repetitions.  In this way, therapy itself is a new beginning– and the beginning for true growth and healing.  

If you wish to read more about this idea, please check out The Core Competencies of Relational Psychoanalysis by Roy Barsness.