Love, loss & facing the truth

"Semrad taught us that most human suffering is related to love and loss and that the job of therapists is to help people 'acknowledge, experience, and bear' the reality of life - with all its pleasures and heartbreak. 'The greatest sources of our suffering are the lies we tell ourselves,' he'd say, urging us to be honest with ourselves about every facet of our experience. He often said that people can never get better without knowing what they know and feeling what they feel."

Bessel van der Kolk writing about what he learned from his great teacher, Elvin Semrad, in the book, The Body Keeps the Score.