2. What do clients find most difficult about the therapeutic process?
I would likely answer this differently on another day, but today I think it is coming to terms with several things:
a. that the time is really theirs to use whether that is to talk about a dream or the week's events or even to remain in silence. In depth psychotherapy there is no agenda or homework or expectation about what should or should not be talked about.
b. that therapy is a relationship between two people. I like to come back to Jung's diagram here about the interaction between the therapist and the patient --
Most patients have trouble with the notion that both people in the relationship are changed in the process of the work together.
c. sticking with it when the going is hard or when feelings are are negative. These are the times when patients are tempted to bolt, to give up because "it isn't working" or "you're not helping me." The solution is to put those feelings into words and talk about them. Never an easy thing to do.
d. letting go of the secrets they carry, believing that the therapist will not reject them or judge them for these secrets.