Insight in Psychotherapy

Insight is the capacity to observe and understand oneself. Psychotherapy provides insight. In therapy the client has the opportunity to allow painful material to come to awareness and be processed with the help of a professional. Processing previously avoided material enables the person to be more conscious of self and to make conscious life choices.

 

Insight, however, is largely an intellectual process. For insight to be useful it must be connected to emotional processing. Without emotional experiencing, insight can become an intellectual exercise – a form of intellectualized avoidance that does not provide lasting change or eliminate symptoms.