The familiar: Psychotherapy involves two people talking with each other, in a private office. This is why someone thought up the simplistic phrase “talk therapy”, which actually leaves out many important parts of the process.
The unfamiliar: Probably the most unfamiliar aspect of psychotherapy is that we talk mostly about only one person—you. It’s not a symmetrical situation between two people who are talking with each other and about each other.
Another way that psychotherapy can be unfamiliar, and surprising, is the way that certain patterns and themes in a person’s life can unintentionally recur right in the conversation. This can actually provide a unique opportunity to catch self-defeating patterns in action.
Psychotherapy can also be valuable in ways that just can’t be described in advance. After all, most people wish they could change the ways of living, or thinking, that aren’t working for them, but they can’t see how to do it. They are looking for something new.