Relieving pain

Dr. Lastname writes that

the most important goal of mental health treatment is seldom to relieve all your pain; that’s usually an impossible pursuit, or one that just shifts the pain from your head to your wallet and your friends. The better goal of therapy is to use it to figure out how to prevent that pain from interfering with the way you think about, and lead, your life. If you elect to suspend treatment because you’re ready to accept pain and uncertainty, and ready to re-start it if you find it necessary, then you’ve achieved one of psychotherapy’s most important goals. Life will always involve pain; don’t let fretting over the decision whether or not to stop therapy add to it.