As we have discussed, many elements are involved in therapy: helping the patient to identify his feelings and
desires, teaching him more effective ways of thinking, leading him to understand his conflicts, etc. Nevertheless, it
is vital to keep the patient thinking of his problems in terms of action. By what actions (psycho-epistemological or
existential) did he contribute to the creation of his problem? By what action does he sustain it? By what actions can
he reverse the process? By what actions can he move towards the attainment of the kind of life he wants?
- This leads us to a principle which is closely related to the above. One of the commonest mistakes made by
patients is an attitude which amounts to the following: After I have learned to understand myself thoroughly, after
all my emotional problems are solved and all my fears vanquished, then I will be able to act differently than I act
now.
The mistake here is in failing to recognize that one's behavior must be modified during the process of therapy, as
one learns. Otherwise, one's learning avails one very little. Many patients claim to have derived all sorts of benefits
from therapy, to have been given invaluable insights—but it is obvious that they are behaving exactly as they
behaved before entering therapy. In such cases, it is difficult to say in what way therapy benefited them or if it
actually did. The truth is that, unless the patient modifies his behavior as he learns, his emotional problems will not
be solved and his fears will not be vanquished.
The ultimate test of cure or improvement is: What is the patient doing differently than he did before? At each step
of therapy the patient should be encouraged to translate into action whatever new understanding he has achieved.
The action may consist of taking a new job, or working harder at the present one, or dealing differently with his
children, or speaking more openly about his emotions to his wife, or curtailing his temper, or preparing and
following a budget, or going back to school, or breaking with undesirable companions, or speaking up in defense of
his convictions at a social gathering, etc. Such practices will have a beneficial effect on his self-esteem which,
coupled with the further understanding he attains in therapy, will enable him subsequently to introduce additional
modifications into his behavior.