Psychotherapy is an apprenticeship to being and to becoming. It is unique to each individual, so it is not primarily a technique, nor is the focus only on symptoms. Symptoms are a powerful motivation especially at the start of therapy, but they are often the surface manifestation of hidden issues. This is why psychotherapy deals with a person's unique history, not merely what happened, but the internal experience of it. This requires courage since some things may never have been shared or even thought about.

The unexpressed feelings are particularly important because what people have been unable to think or talk about, and that they even try to not to remember, return in cycles to haunt them. When people are helped to confront the shame of private feelings, and to understand what they have long borne alone, they begin to gain freedom from hidden loyalties that compel them to repeat old patterns.