Individual therapy is the most requested form of therapy. Although a person is part of a family, often part of a social group, a work group, a class, a congregation, a team, a constituency, and connected to others in various ways, he or she is an individual first. Each one of us has a unique set of genetic characteristics with our own set of life experiences. Our interactions and perceptions of the world depend on the mental constructs only we have formed , and therefore no one else really understands our particular interpretations of our experiences. Individual therapy can be an opportunity to explore these very constructs and gain insight into the how and why of our reactions. It is the chance to go deep within ourselves—to truly know who we are.

Therapy enables us to unmask, to discover patterns, to gain awareness, and ultimately to achieve freedom. With the help of a skillful therapist , an individual is empowered to make autonomous, conscious choices. Our choices are often the unconscious continuation of family or individual patterns, and it is necessary to be given the objective feedback of an unrelated person to begin to discern the patterns.

Individuals are sometimes stuck in systems of faulty beliefs and the therapist may challenge these beliefs. For example, an individual may not believe he or she is worthy of being respected and treated decently, and it may be necessary to find the source of that belief in order to dispel it.

An individual may need a therapist to “hold” his or her pain or trauma until he or she is able to feel it fully and let it go. A therapist may function as a witness to an individual who must re-enact a situation until he or she can gain some control over the emotional impact.

It is often helpful for an individual to seek therapy in order to clarify possible consequences to important life decisions. Alternatives may also be generated as a result of therapist and client collaboration.

An individual may seek therapy because he or she is in pain or because the person wants to grow. Either way, the therapy process requires effort, courage, and honesty. The therapist must be able to discern his or her own ideas, feelings, patterns, mental constructs, reactions, and perceptions in order to be truly present to his or her client. Of course the therapist's life experience as well as strategies, theories, techniques, and other skills are tools that contribute to the process—the unfolding of consciousness and the accomplishment of goals set by the individual.