You know there's more to therapy than eliminating unpleasant emotions. When constructive emotions are worked with skillfully , the result is often enormous therapeutic change.
Most therapists are skilled at helping patients swiftly eliminate unpleasant emotions.
But a revolution has begun in psychotherapy. After years of enthusiasm for emotion suppression therapies, practitioners around the world are awakening to realize they've missed half the picture. In mistakenly suppressing our patients' constructive unpleasant emotions, we've inadvertently stunted their growth and jeopardized their adaptation. In other words, she may be better served by working with her isolation-induced anxiety rather than against it. The same may be true of the alcoholic's shame, the neglected spouse's frustration, and the depression of the office worker in a dead-end job.