What heals? The relationship

Unhealthy relationships make us sick, and healthy relationships make us heal.

“Eleanor Oliphant is doing very well“ by Gail Honeyman is a novel that beautifully describes this process.

A captivating book that I highly recommend to everyone, especially those who don't believe in the possibility of change.

THREE messages who left me this novel:

CHANGE IS POSSIBLE

Easy? NO. Possible? YES! Eleanor is about a rebirth. It's impossible not to be captivated by the journey into her inner world, full of conflicts and capital-T traumas to resolve. Learning to ask for help is the first step. Eleanor's life changes precisely the moment she chooses to open up to the world, and thanks to this openness, she agrees to begin a course of psychotherapy.

WE ALL HAVE EMOTIONAL NEEDS

Eleanor keeps telling herself and others that she's fine. Only when she courageously recognizes her needs will she discover that... like every human being, she needs to be loved, appreciated, accepted and understood. And only thanks to this discovery will she be able to find the Eleanor-shaped space in the outside world. The very space she, until recently, had told herself she absolutely didn't need.

TWO SOLITUDES CAN MEET

Eleanor lives in the isolation of her solitude. She is isolated from her inner world (which she doesn't want to see) and from the outside world, which she claims not to be interested in (she has no social contact beyond the professional one). As long as she lives in isolation, nothing can happen and nothing can be encountered. Everything changes when she begins to create intimate relationships, allowing other solitudes to see, touch, and meet her solitude. Eleanor makes us see firsthand how the antidote to loneliness is intimacy and how important it is to detox from dysfunctional relationships by choosing nourishing relationships.

It's the relationship that heals, and it's built from the very first meeting: here's how it works with psychotherapy in Florence.