Therapy can help an individual achieve greater understanding of the cause of their difficulties and a better awareness of anxieties and difficult feelings. Early relationships with family members often define the relationship patterns and emotional functioning we have in later life. So, with the help of a trained therapist, exploring past experiences and relationships can be a useful way of identifying and understanding difficult current behaviour patterns and anxieties. The idea is that with this help, the individual is able to cope better with the difficulties they have been experiencing.

Working with your therapist, an individual can explore the ways they might usually respond to difficult emotions. This can help to reveal underlying anxieties, of which a person might not be consciously aware.

These links made between past relationships, behaviour patterns and emotional anxieties, can help a person make sense of feelings which had previously felt painful and difficult to cope with.