If you've been thinking about starting therapy, there's something you need to know before

you booked your first session.

The very first weeks can feel unexpectedly intense.

Your mind begins to open the door on thoughts with all their memories and emotions you've

kept buried and the release can be a lot to handle.

Without understanding why it's happening, you might decide therapy isn't for you. Before it even has had the chance to help you. Therapy isn't magic. It works when you're actively involved. Without that, it can even push you in the wrong direction. The results depend on two things you control, what you do

between sessions and how honest you are during them. If you hold back key details, your therapist

is working with an incomplete picture, which can lead to advice that doesn't fit you. There's also

something most people aren't prepared for. The activation

it is a stage where your mind starts bringing non-conscious patterns into your conscious

awareness. That spike in emotional intensity is a sign that your healing work has begun. But if you

don't know, it can feel like you're moving backwards. In this episode,

I'm going to show you how to spot the activation dip, what to do when it hits, and how to make

therapy work harder for you so you can keep going until the real breakthroughs happen. I want

you to understand why this happens, what it means for your progress and how you

can work with it instead of stepping away too soon. When you begin therapy, you are giving your

mind permission to bring non-conscious patterns into your conscious awareness. These patterns include

thoughts, their embedded memories and attached emotions and physical warning signals that

have been part of your internal experience for years.

As they move into awareness, the intensity can spike.

This is a predictable stage, a temporary spike in emotional intensity as your conscious mind

embraces processes and integrates material

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