Symptoms as Anaesthetic — Why Therapy Makes You Feel More

A symptom — whether an eating disorder, an addiction, or a compulsive behaviour — often functions as an anaesthetic: it reduces the felt discomfort of an underlying situation to a level that makes it liveable. Therapy, by removing the anaesthetic, temporarily increases the pain. This is not a failure of the therapy. It is how change becomes possible.

“I see often people who are in a bad job or a bad relationship. But every evening they go to drink one or two beers or take a bit of drugs. To some extent, they don’t feel the discomfort of their situation. So they stay in it.” — Philippe Jacquet

What happens in the therapy room

In therapy, the anaesthetic is not available. The person speaks about something — really speaks about it, in the presence of another person — and suddenly they can feel it in a way they could not when alone.

“In therapy you speak about something and suddenly you feel the pain. And by feeling the pain it is an invitation for change — because human beings generally change only if there is pain.” — Philippe Jacquet

Why this feels like getting worse

This is why therapy sometimes feels, in the early stages, like things are getting worse. The person is feeling more than they did before. Real pain, unlike anaesthetised pain, has a direction: it points toward what needs to change.

Book a consultation with Philippe Jacquet — psychotherapist and Jungian analyst, London.