Can you know the whole truth, and nothing but the the truth?
Psychotherapy is about truth. Yes, nothing but the whole truth.
Knowing it. Understanding it. Applying it in one’s life.
Truth produces mental health and emotional well being.
So what is truth then?
Truth is reality as it is. Not as it seems to be.
It’s possible to know the unvarnished truth of a circumstance or situation.
But you would have to learn and practice the skills needed to see and understand the truth.
The more you know and practice, the better you get.
Let’s visit Julie, a therapy client. She’s totally unaware of the untruths or lies causing her unhappiness.
Her focus is so much more on the external circumstances of her marriage, particularly her husband changing first after infidelity before she can be happy.
Unfortunately, Julie, to meet her “needs,” resorts to screaming and yelling. She tries to control everything that her husband does and says in search of “truth.”
This then only makes things much worse for her and her husband. Because people by nature don’t like to be manipulated, threatened, and controlled into changing.
Learning the whole truth is expected to be painful and hard for Julie – given her present state.
And that’s because it involves essentially her ability to first see truth about her own self, personality, and life.
Only when Julie is able to start and progress in this area will she become better – in discovering the whole truths in her marriage, and how to respond constructively and appropriately.
Psychologist Dr. Chris Thurman of the Minirth-Meier Clinic adds one important caveat in this discussion of knowing the “whole truth.”
He writes,
“Truth is like an iceberg, really. What we can learn from our day to day experience is just the tip of the truth that we can learn on our own. Knowing the deeper, spiritual truths of life that lie below life’s surface requires that we depend on a greater power than ourselves … To learn the truths that are most powerful and life-sustaining of all, we must look to that greater power.”
Yes, you can know the whole truth. Discover, learn, and practice how it’s done.
