The word “therapy” comes from the Greek “therapeía” and means assist; Therapy should serve, accompany you on the path of consciousness.
In fact, when talking about therapy, the term “therapeutic process” is used to indicate that it is a journey with a beginning, a middle and an end where the client is led to move with the emotions and mind in an exploration of itself.
The therapeutic path is a metaphor for the journey, an “inner journey” as Claudio Naranjo and many therapists and philosophers before him considered it.
To accompany an inner exploration, the therapist must have accumulated experience in the territories of the soul, in its ups and downs, obstacles and resources.
The figure of the therapist is that of a guide, an expert hiker who knows how to linger in the landscapes of the mind, of emotions; someone capable of serving the client, from whom he asks for help, with wisdom, experience and humility.
A good therapist can be like Virgil from Dante’s Divine Comedy, the wizard Gandalf from Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” or for movie lovers, Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Star Wars saga.
Many epics narrate the adventures of a hero in search of liberation, existential healing For example, heroes like Ulysses, Hercules, Gilgamesh, Dante, Oedipus, live a true initiation process, transforming along the way, conquering goals and overcoming fears, resistance and obstacles.
Freud already proposed the metaphor of the therapeutic journey, but it was Jung who suggested that the mythical stories of initiatory journeys can be understood as symbolic expressions of a process of psychic transformation that people can experience during a therapeutic journey
Jung called this process “the hero’s journey” or “individuation process,” which is divided into a succession of stages. Each passage is symbolized by an archetype, that is, a key figure that recurs in myths and fairy tales precisely to represent these fundamental human experiences.
In the first phase of the path, the ego must first “structure” itself to learn to live in the reality you are in: he must, therefore, acquire self-confidence (the Innocent archetype), autonomy and practicality (the Orphan), courage and ingenuity (the Warrior), respect for oneself and for others (the Guardian Angel).
The concept of the hero’s journey is completed and complete with essayist Joseph Campbell in his most significant text “The Hero of a Thousand Faces” describes the stages of the hero’s adventure.
Likewise, the therapeutic path goes through the phases of the epic journey, turning the client into a hero of their existential adventure.
The therapy adapts into an adventure that can change the client’s existential narrative provoke significant changes and lead to effective resilience in a short time.
Exploring Campbell’s proposal
Next I describe the main stages of Campbell’s hero’s journey in parallel with the therapeutic journey ; I will use hero and client as the only subject to create more interaction between the parties in the reader’s imagination.
1. The beginning
The hero’s journey begins with the “call to adventure”, presented to the hero by the messenger; If the client decides to take the path, he will be forced to abandon the world that is known and familiar to him and must venture into a space that is unknown to him.
The hero’s journey continues with the meeting with the “mentor or wise old man.” An alliance is created between client and mentor that will allow the hero to progress and complete his path. For the client it is the beginning of therapy, the meeting with a psychologist, psychotherapist or counselor and the contractual phase of the aid path.
3. The problems to face
Along the way a series of difficulties, tests and changes occur (which Campbell has defined as the first, second and third threshold). In this phase, the client faces his problems by leaving the comfort zone
4. The abyss
The client will then find on the way the most complex moment of his journey, that of the abyss; but what It will also turn out to be the moment of revelation, of the discovery of something new in the story and especially in the character of the hero. This is the moment of the “death-rebirth” dynamic.
This can be considered the cathartic phase for the client, where they experience a change or achievement of a goal, the resolution of their disturbances, and the recovery of functional stability.
5. The return home
At this point the hero is transformed by the journey he has made and It’s time for him to reconcile with the world he knew before his departure, to come to terms with your past now that you have gained a new perspective and new skills; It’s time to “come home.”
For therapy, return means integration, the follow-up phase, where the result of changes and stability of the client’s consciousness is monitored
Approaching therapy as an inner journey experience provokes a curiosity, interest and motivation that is completely different from the clinical approach that seeks to cure illnesses, traumas and give rise to rehabilitation with analytical techniques looking at the client as sick, abnormal and inadequate.
In the therapeutic journey, however, the client is recognized as a hero able to overcome their own limitations and insecurities assuming responsibility and recognizing their own resources with courage and hope.
If the client is offered the opportunity to rewrite the biographical story and the story with which he describes the world, he can obtain extremely positive results, reclassifying his own image and that of reality in creative and adaptive terms.
Whoever begins a therapeutic journey with the curiosity of reaching emotional landscapes of clear serenity and mental horizons where he can see a new light emerge, advances with the enthusiasm of hope, with the same energy of someone who ventures into a new company, a journey, the creation of a work of art.
