Embrace the Crazy

By Amy Rauch, PsyD

My PhD-in-psychology cousin provided me with the best and final myth. Thank you!

Myth 4: "Only Crazy People Go To Therapy"

I love this one because it also begs the question as to who is crazy. Is a person crazy that sees or hears things that others don't? How about someone that copes with life stresses by....eating? eating and purging? drinking exorbitant amounts of alcohol? Unsuccessfully attempting to control their life and and that of everyone around them out of fear? Is a person crazy that views the world from a lens in which they are a perpetual victim and at the mercy of circumstance?  Is a person crazy that is in a perpetually sad state that can't seem to see the light? Or how about the person that finds themselves in unhealthy relationships time and time again? Or just under employed because they are too afraid to apply for a promotion for fear they will be rejected? Or the parent that has difficulty giving themselves grace for the daily struggles of raising a child...berating themselves for the wasted food thrown on the floor, the tantrum thrown at target, or the amount of TV their little ones watch?

Crazy is such a relative term. Could it be that we all have a degree of crazy? And the above myth's implication that only crazy people go to therapy could actually be embraced...that all of us are a bit crazy and that all of us could benefit from an honest look at ourselves and an objective look at where we have been, where we are, and where we would like to go??

Objectivity, clarity, opportunity for reflection and a safe place to be able to be honest with ourselves and someone else about things that matter to us....these are the gifts I hope to give my clients through the course of therapy. And I do this with individuals and couples at all levels of crazy....and can we now agree that every one of us has some crazy? And that learning to embrace and harness the crazy makes life all that much more beautiful?