Famous psychotherapist, Carl Rogers, had videos of his clinical psychotherapy sessions assessed. Some critically important information was found. Those people who predominantly took responsibility for themselves and their actions got the most value from psychotherapy despite having unfortunate circumstances. These clients leaned into their therapy sessions and learned how to better cope. Thus they had rock star results with Rogers. Scholarly types call this an “internal locus of control”.
The clients who predominantly had an external locus of control tended to fare the worst. An external locus of control is associating things to external factors, such as other people, the government, the environment and so on. Some folks can learn to have more self reflection and grow. Those who do not, don’t enhance their mental health.
Another psychotherapist and another Carl, Carl Jung, said that we all have a dark side, he called it the “shadow self”. This is a side of ourselves that we don’t like. However, we can reflect on those parts of ourselves to learn self acceptance and other ways of being.
Moral of the story, be open to self reflection to enhance your personal growth. Let go of blame and be open to an internal locus of control.
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