In the room with a psychotherapist.
"Confessing at a therapy feel like addressing God the Father Himself, if one truly believe in Him," begins a man his conversation when he enters the counseling room to discuss important matters in his life. The need for confession is one of the main reasons why people seek personal connections and advice from a psychotherapist.
To confide in a fellow human being, especially someone in whom we can trust in the sense of goodness and knowledge, is among the ancient needs of human emotions and reason. This is where entire life stories unfold. Every individual has their own story, and some are so intricately complex from conception and birth that they send shivers down one's spine when heard.
Many cannot carry the burden of life on their own any longer, and that's why they feel the need to unload at least a little. We almost literally talk about the need for a weight to be lifted from our hearts.
Conversations occur through the free association of thoughts and miroring the inner life seeing what is alive in the person. The psychotherapist must allow the visitor to speak about everything that troubles them in their life, particularly their past, in an unforced manner. Free association of thoughts is the best way to reveal oneself.
As Meerloo A. M. states in "Conversation and Communication, New York 1952," "the free strategy of unlimited self-revelation," the unforced connecting of thoughts, limitless self-disclosure, is explicitly highlighted.
This is particularly true for what is called non-directive counseling, which is gaining more recognition alongside directive counseling. Academics understand this as counseling where the counselor doesn't provide any advice in the begining, nor do they try to influence the individual with their beliefs or teachings, nor do they take any spiritual or educational leadership. The purpose of such counseling is simply to provide an opportunity for open and relaxed conversation and to listen.
The primary goal in the begining is in the conversation itself.
The words one speaks and the other listens to are their only connection. Often, people only have the need to talk. The mere possibility of a conversation already has a soothing effect. Many times, people don't actually think as badly as they speak. Their personal crisis often stems from not being able to release and disclose their feelings as they happen. When they achieve this, the questions and their contents dissolve, even though one would expect that they face insurmountable challenges based on their words. In this non-directive counseling, a psychological wisdom is encompassed.
This wisdom is, in fact, ancient, and its secret lies in the word and its redeeming personal power. However, it has been shown that humans have passed by these living springs like the blind, and consequently, they have withered from thirst.
All of this is essentially spontaneous lay confession, in which a person repeatedly feels the personal need to unburden their soul.
This is the true cleansing of the soul, where over time, a lot of impure sediment has accumulated at the bottom, burdening and clouding the clarity of the soul and one's view of the world and life.
When we experience such things, we realize how important it is to be interested in a person's inner self.
After visiting and conversing in the counseling room, life feels much lighter to me. People often thank me in a similar manner. The burdens that once oppressed them and created an unbearable internal atmosphere have been relieved. Conversation, in which a person reveals themselves, literally releases and lightens them. The inner tension that had been building up day by day dissipates, and people feel reborn. This is something people often acknowledge themselves.
Through confession, a person inadvertently accuses themselves. Thus, such confession is both cleansing and soothing. Many people do not even admit to themselves that subconsciously some guilt is driving them to the counseling room.
They want to find peace, which is why they come. Just by coming, they find some peace as they reveal and confess things they wouldn't tell anyone else because they are ashamed, especially when they reveal things they hadn't even thought of revealing when entering the counseling room; they had carefully reserved them."
Of course, this is not true "confession." People go to psychotherapist to have their past and present somewhat justified with gentle, sensitive understanding, to console and calm them.
People rarely come with the intention of seriously redirecting themselves and improving. They want absolution without remorse. Often, this is a subconscious search for validation for their misguided path, a kind of patronizing approval for their actions and their orientation.
Confessing to a psychotherapist and talking with them is a kind of dissection of one's psyche, which serves a person as a sort of a mental disinfection bath. It helps them adjust their lives, look at things from a different perspective, better understand themselves, their motives, their mistakes, and their vices, which is, in fact, the primary task of a psychotherapist.
As a result of this confession, they often decide to be more righteous, true, and virtuous. They often decide to be better to others, correct the wrongs they have done, heal the wounds they have inflicted, fulfill their oaths, and improve their social connections and relationships with people who surround them. This is the most important fruit of the confession in the counselor's room.
In essence, the man enters the counseling room in pursuit of happiness. They hope that by removing the inner darkness and revealing their conscience, they will find peace, happiness, and spiritual rebirth. This is also why they are consoled and find new hope when they are listened to and when their souls are embraced by a wise and loving person. The process of confession takes place in the dialogue of two souls, and it is completed with the wisdom of the counselor's words, which often bring consolation and hope, encouragement for a better future.
The man is no longer alone. He has another soul to share his life with, to entrust his life stories to. As a result, he is not as lonely and unhappy as he was when he entered the counseling room. That is why he returns there again and again. He knows he will always find understanding, compassion, wisdom, and love.
The counseling room becomes his sacred place, the place where he finds answers, and where his life gains meaning and purpose.
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