TruthSeeker
MyPTSD Pro
I don't know if the dog is off my "non options list" menu....while a last choice....if it's the dog or going hungry.....it will prayed over, thanked, prepared, and eaten. LOL If the Jamestown colonists did it during the starving time, I'd do it too!I think therapy as a term can be a very diffuse topic: is it to manage and recover from a single critical event? Does it open other cans of worms, whether they be traumas, or attachment? Does it unearth cognitive distortions and long-held beliefs that affect crises management, decision making, and interpretation? What about related relevant areas, like self-esteem, self-worth, and self-compassion? And then the journey from surviving to thriving, as @brat17 said ? But also all of it within it's context, like other crises or abuse, grief and loss (as @ladee said), pain management, insomnia, etc. and just regular 'other' conditions and abilities/ disabilities. So there's processing of traumas, current situations, future dreams or thoughts or goals or fears, and all life throws at us.
So I would guess that what is grounding and regulating, that which stabilizes or gently pushes or pulls towards growth and peace and happiness, or opens new ways to look at one's self (and the past) is a good thing. However that looks for you. Even the awareness that things don't have to be black or white in terms of choices or options can be indicative of a lot of growth that probably was years in the making.
Just an aside, I realized something strange about myself, some of which i knew, some which I didn't. I think (for me) it comes naturally to want to solve or think my way to a solution. But the thinking itself if left to only my own devices frequently digs me deeper in. So, for example, I always thought SI needed to be put in the 'non option' list. The more I'd think about it, the more of an obvious option it seemed. Then I thought recently, what are non-options? For example, going and eating the neighbour's dog, or going to my workplace naked. Etc. (Anything ridiculous or humorus or gross- but SI is pretty gross and violent, too.) And I remembered being told ( not just for me, but for anyone) years ago, "You can't do it!" Now I try to think of it solely from that basis, I "can't", just as I couldn't do those other things. (Technically I could, but I wouldn't. Because just as it makes sense to not do those things, without thinking more about it I have to trust that would make sense too. But that has taken me years to understand). So, long story short, I think learning or coping or eradicating/ replacing unhealthy or unhelpful beliefs and ways of existing do come through life. But they most come from where you can be both honest and it's safe to be honest at the same time, and where there is wisdom and support. Which actually, is pretty rare.