We Want Our Quick Fixes-Mani-Pedi-Therapy
With all these expectations and demands, it’s not surprising that many of us suffer from anxiety, depression, and a host of other psychological and physical symptoms. This demand for everything to move faster and better means we also tend to expect fast and easy solutions – even to the problems caused by those expectations.
When you look at it that way, it seems a little silly doesn’t it? We suffer because we expect urgency and perfection, but then we turn around and expect immediate and simple solutions for that suffering. We want someone to identify our issues, name them, and offer a solution. We want to know what’s wrong and what we can do about it – the faster and easier those answers, the better. Again, we’re not here to place judgement on those demands. Despite how silly it might seem to expect quick solutions, it also makes total sense in the world we live in. You’re likely constantly inundated with those promises.
Resources for solving practically every problem are available instantly and at our fingertips. Home décor? Pinterest. Travel ideas? Conde Nast website. Touch base with friends? Facebook. Immediate solutions seem to be everywhere – free and easily accessible to most of the world.
And the same is true even with our face-to-face needs. Not feeling toned? Schedule time with a trainer. Want to look more polished? Schedule a mani-pedi. Aching? Massage. Aging? Facial. Mood swings? Stress? Anxiety? Schedule an appointment with your therapist.
But take a moment to look at those solutions. Do any of them offer permanent or long-lasting transformation? They might be easy, quick solutions, but do they have any sort of longevity? Of course, they don’t. And you’re probably aware of that on some level, but the sheer amount of convenient, temporary solutions is overwhelming, and let’s face it, easy.
It only makes sense that we’d apply this same type of thinking to modern day therapy too. We’ve gotten feedback from so many and found that, sure enough, a lot of people do go to their therapist simply for quick directional advice or to vent and unload daily injustices. Leaving there, they feel a sense of release of negativity, and they can then head out to family and friends with a new, refreshed attitude. Just like the other quick-fixes we’ve mentioned, it’s a great temporary solution, but approaching therapy with that expectation can’t result in long-lasting change.
Feeling anger? Get diagnosed with adjustment disorder and go for EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). Traumatic experience? Get diagnosed with an anxiety disorder (GAD) not otherwise specified (NOS) and go for RRT (Rapid Resolution Therapy) and Xanax. Scared of things? Get diagnosed with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) or phobia disorder and the protocol is EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing). General problematic behavior? Go to NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). Addictions? Get diagnosed with Substance Abuse Disorder and go to a 12-step program. Hyperactive? Get diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity (ADHD) and get treated with biofeedback and stimulants. Depressed? Try CBT and (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and Prozac. Marital discord? Try on Dysfunctional Relationship Disorder and go for ECT (Effective Couples Therapy). Tics and jitters? Get diagnosed with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and get on some meds. Bummed out in the winter? Get diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and get a sun lamp or plenty of antidepressants. Hyperactive? Are you a pain in the ass? Get diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), but sorry; there’s no treatment for that. Okay, you get the picture.
We’re exercising hyperbole to really drive the point home that therapy no longer carries the stigma it once did, and with this new category of relief-seekers using therapy for benign, general coping purposes, many more people are heading to the therapist’s office than ever before. In addition to those seeking treatment for more deep-rooted issues and chemical imbalances, there is also now a significant segment seeking the support and connectivity that the ongoing therapeutic relationship provides.
We’re Looking Outward When We Should be Looking Inward
Every treatment modality mentioned above has its merit and value. But after utilizing the above diagnoses and treatments for years, we can’t help but notice that they all encourage people to look outward to specialists for quick answers and quick fixes.
Get a label; get a fix. Get another label; get another fix. This emphasis on instant answers to deep problems causes us to miss an important strategy – the ability to sit with an uncomfortable experience. Our society has trained us to look outward for the answers to anything that causes the slightest distress or discomfort.
There is a better way. Many of the most valued thought leaders of both modern and ancient cultures have stressed the importance of listening to the intuitive voice within. It turns out, all the answers we need to flourish are found inside each of us. While it’s good, common sense to seek out information from experts, we ultimately must decide on our direction – own our healing.
The more capable we become at making our own decisions, plotting our course of action, and taking responsibility for all areas of our life, the more we thrive. Confidence and self-esteem are the natural consequences of knowing you can rely on your own good judgment. It’s extremely powerful to learn to trust yourself and your ability to determine your next steps.
The New Therapy Paradigm
We want to take a moment here to stress that we don’t disagree with psychotherapy or talk therapy. We are seasoned therapists after all! Instead, we believe that therapy is evolving. Just as the perspective of therapy has expanded to be a helpful tool for a wide-range of issues, so too must therapy itself evolve and expand.
So, what does this new therapy paradigm look like? We believe that therapy must expand to be more YOU-focused. Instead of showing up to a therapy session for an hour a week and relying on the techniques your psychotherapist suggests, we want you to be in the driver’s seat. We believe that the greatest transformations happen when you’re guided through exercises and techniques that you work on independently. In this way, you are in control of and experience your own progress.
If you cannot already tell, we are out to disrupt the future of psychotherapy. The more we researched alternative, the more passionate we became. The result is a technique that reprograms your mind bridging science, psychology and spirituality. How do we know it works? We have had some great success. To give you an example, we began by testing it out with a group of local realtors. We addressed the universal condition of insecurities, in this case, in order to be more successful in their sales performance. Person after person revealed more confidence, focus, and overall increased productivity. As a group, they reported their highest sales reports for that quarter of the year. Individually, they indicated feeling more fulfilled and generally happier. That’s when we knew we were on to something. We realized not only can performance be increased, we can assist in a higher sense of well-being, which is the whole goal of any therapist.