Why Do We Need To Do With Therapy?

Many people worldwide have sadly never been taught to identify their feelings, and worse, many have been shamed for expressing emotions. What could something as seemingly superficial as a hero lore have to do with such serious matters? Scarlet has found a key to understanding how to harness this power. A range of cognitive and behavioral therapies, with a proven track record in treating anxiety and mood disorders, provide the raw material for therapy. Scarlet has forged these ideas and methods into something new, even something beautiful. In secular and capitalist cultures, our access to the evolved, prototypic dimensions of self that myths and archetypes provide can seem elusive. Scarlet’s work is the way that she finds access to intelligences hidden in plain sight. Scarlet allows you to leverage deeply embodied social mentalities that have been designed by evolution to serve specific functions. Our protective self, our nurturing self, even our playful self, all become available to us in this way, and we can stimulate the attendant neurobehavioral repertoires that we need to engage with suffering, as we take up the mantle of the hero, the superhero, and practice becoming the version of ourselves that is our heart’s deepest wish for what we want to see in the world. Why do we need to do with therapy? Explore your own origin story, identify the latent power that is arising in your heart and mind, face your own shadows and demons, and you may find a surprisingly satisfying answer to this question. At the time of a global mental health crisis, we need heroes. As a result, many of the clients that we see feel shame about struggling with a mental health disorder, feel shame about needing help, and feel shame about seeing a mental health professional. In order to help clients to take the shame and stigma out of mental health, it can be helpful to show them that they are not alone in feeling this way.

How Low You Fall

One way of normalizing and validating the client’s experiences is to demonstrate that other people, even superheroes, as well as other courageous heroes have gone through similar experiences as the client has done. In order to practice therapy, you do not have to be an expert in popular culture. In fact, no prior experience is necessary. Your client is the expert in their particular area of interest. You only have to be open minded and curious, acting as a sidekick to your client’s hero’s quest. Thereafter, feel free to utilize any skills and worksheets as you see fit. You do not need any additional permission to use these worksheets with your clients or for educational purposes. Please remember that just as your client is the hero of their journey, so are you the hero of yours. Because of you, countless people have found relief and healing. Because of your kindness, many others have felt seen, heard, and supported. And because of you, the world is a kinder, gentler place. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being wonderful.

High And Dry

In fact, for many individuals, characters from fiction can serve as a kind of social surrogate for a friend, family member, and even a romantic partner. Every person, real and fictional, has an origin story. Mine started in Ukraine when I was a few months shy of my third birthday. The Chernobyl nuclear accident of 1986 is still considered to be the worst radiation disaster of all time. For days, we were not aware of the severity of the radiation spill, that is until people started getting very sick and until other countries, primarily Sweden, noticed that the Geiger counters were showing evidence of a radiation leak. My family and I were all affected by acute radiation poisoning, as were most people living in Ukraine and the nearby countries at that time. We received multiple iodine treatments but, in some cases, that was not enough. The radiation poisoning shattered my immune system, making it difficult for my body to fight infections, which meant that I had to go to the hospital even for a simple cold. I would also get frequent blood clots, but my blood wouldn’t clot on its own and I sometimes had to go to the emergency room to stop the bleeding. Whenever the weather changes, especially when the temperature or barometric pressure drops suddenly, I get severe migraines, which sometimes lead to seizures. I remember feeling weak and broken and spending most of my childhood being and feeling sick. I remember reading stories about fantastical heroes who would slay dragons and save the world and wishing so badly to have some kind of magical abilities in order to be able to save not only myself but all the kids in the hospital with me.

At The Same Time

I was 12 when my parents and I were able to move to the United States. We came to the States as refugees after experiencing years of religious persecution for being Jewish. Do you, by chance, remember being me? Most people I ask chuckle or flinch in horror. That usually gets a laugh because most of us remember the extremely challenging transition of that age. The social pressures, the changing friendships and social status, and unfortunately for many of us, relentless bullying. Everyone I knew was picked on, and as a girl who did not speak English, a girl who had to miss school whenever the weather changed, and as a girl with a history of radiation exposure, I made an easy target for bullying. People would sometimes ask me if I was contagious, if I was radioactive, and if I glowed in the dark. To the latter, I would sometimes respond with I am working on it, but the truth is that most of that year I just wanted to die. The worst part of it wasn’t the bullying, it wasn’t the mean remarks, but rather, it was the fact that I felt completely and utterly alone. I didn’t know what was happening to me.