How the Sigmund Freud rabbit photo shows what therapy is about
No one can change their childhoods. We are who we are.
Every year and after Easter, our little bunny finds himself back on the couch, utterly exhausted, with the same compulsive problem - having hidden all the eggs from the children.
Every year, dear old Sigmund Freud tries to help bunny get to the bottom of his neurosis. His file has even begun to bulge with all the notes from bunny's troubling concerns.
Freud suspects his problem may have started way back in bunny's childhood. Bunny also knows this to be true. He came to realise that even when he was tiny, he was inclined to conceal eggs from those around him.
Bunny is also beginning to grasp that this behavioural pattern may have developed from his parents. You see, they also hid eggs at Easter time. In fact, they still do. But poor bunny goes one step further. He makes sure that no one can ever find them.
Freud thinks that bunny is making good progress.
Bunny is discovering when his problem may have arisen. He is slowly beginning to understand that he may never stop hiding eggs. He is also starting to accept that his pattern of behaviour is part of who he is.
However, bunny is also beginning to recognise that he can control how many eggs he hides for himself and that he can also leave a few eggs for the children to find - without feeling bereft. Besides, if he does this, he'll have less eggs to eat, which may help him keep his weight down.
You see, bunny has finally and correctly concluded that therapy isn't about to change as such. No one can change their childhoods. We are who we are.
Therapy is about understanding the past, then accepting who we've become as a result, so that we can make better choices to suit our life's goals.
Bunny suspects that, as he has finally begun to better understand himself, he may even have come to the end of his therapy sessions.
He has, of course, admitted that he might miss dear old Sigmund, but life must go on. After all - Easter is over, for this year at least.
Deidré Wallace is a relationship therapist and educator. She has had a private practice for the past 20 years. For more information, visit her website here.
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