Will therapy change me?

So many people have pondered if therapy will change them. In reality, people are afraid that therapy will change them. The whole purpose of therapy is to learn about oneself. Therapy requires self-reflection, processing one's own behavior, and taking steps to do better. This is the pure definition of change. Yes, therapy will change a person. The real question is, how will therapy change them. 

PAIN

Sometimes therapy can cause us pain. This sounds counterproductive since we usually go to therapy to end the pain. However, as we learn about ourselves, our past mistakes, traumas, misconceptions, and other stuff we have ignored or blocked from our minds, we can discover more pain. Processing and moving on from the pain in your life will change you, either for the better or worse. Some of us will allow the pain to control and define us. Pain can lower our self-esteem and cause us to feel unworthy. Pain can also show us what we are made of and increase our self-esteem. We decide how the pain from therapy will change us.    

PERSONALITY

There is the fear of losing the one thing that makes us all unique, our personality. Personality is the combination of characteristics, behaviors, cognitions, and emotions that distinguish us from one another. Therapy is not designed to change our personality or who we are. It is designed to enhance our personality, strengthen the traits we are proud of, and better control the traits that concern us. Again, we decide what parts of our personality we want to adjust; thus we control how we change. 

MENTAL DISORDERS

When it comes to our mental illness, we are hoping for a change. Therapy will not cure our mental illness, but it can improve the symptoms. Improved symptoms will make a significant impact on our lives. Better control over our mental illness opens new opportunities, reduces the amount of psychotropic medication, and gives a brighter future perspective. Controlling our mental illness vs. the mental illness controlling us is a life-altering change. This definitely changes us for the better.

The answer to the question, how will therapy change me, is entirely up to us. We can use therapy to become a better version of ourselves or allow the pain to destroy us even more. The choice is ours.