While there are some very common themes in therapy, this is one of the most common. People come to therapy to try to get rid of hard thoughts and feelings, only to realise that struggling with those feelings is a big part of the problem. One short way of referring to this is ‘The Struggle Switch’. Are we struggling against the thoughts in our minds, our emotions, or the sensations in our body, or are we open to noticing them and letting them be? Is our struggle switch on, or is it off?
Here is a great video by Brian Johnson. It’s about the ‘Struggle Switch’ and is inspired by Russ Harris’s book ‘The Happiness Trap’, and the work of Kirsten Neff, researcher in the area of self-compassion. This is a key concept in therapy and the video summarises it really well.
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