To give a thing a name, a label, a handle: to rescue it from anonymity, to pluck in out of the Place of Namelessness, in short to identify it – well, that’s a way of bringing the said thing into being ’ – H. Segal
I love this quote for its simplicity and because it reminds me that no matter how old we have become, the struggle of trying to put ourselves into words stays with us from infancy. It is the quest to find, express and understand ourselves. It is this process that lies at the heart of psychotherapy and change.
Like so many children, I talked a great deal as a child. And now as an adult I listen a great deal.
This is not unlike the process of therapy. Talking …. in the right space and over time brings about internal changes and a stillness, a quietness.
The therapy process reminds me of infancy. Fumbling around in a sort of darkness for the right word….trying to give shape and form to something that arises from inside, pressing to be heard.
And so we see an infant makes sounds. They listen to the sounds made and notice the impact the sounds they make have on others. The sounds they make and the responses received, begin the process of giving the infant self substance and form.
And so in therapy what lies inside is given shape and meaning.
We all need to be heard. Uninterrupted, and experienced, felt by another. From infancy right through to the aged years.
