Psychotherapy and the Bridge to Individuation

A Reflection on Survival, Selfhood, and the Slow Work of Becoming Whole

Healing starts when you stop rehearsing who you were taught to be.
Psychotherapy isn’t just about healing. It’s the bridge between survival and selfhood.

There’s a point in healing where you stop asking how to fix yourself and start asking who you actually are. That’s where psychotherapy met me—not as a cure, but as a mirror. It became the space where I began to separate what was mine from what I had learned to perform.

For many of us who grew up high-functioning or constantly adapting, survival meant blending in. It meant carrying entire emotional worlds in silence while appearing fine on the surface. Therapy didn’t erase that—it revealed it. It helped me see that the parts of me that kept everything together were also the ones that never got to rest.

This paper, presented at the 2025 ADHD National Conference, explores how psychotherapy can serve as a bridge toward individuation—the process of becoming whole after years of fragmentation. It draws from lived experience, tracing the quiet transitions between compliance and authenticity, between self-erasure and reclamation.

Psychotherapy, for me, was never about learning how to be “normal.” It was about learning how to be me—to integrate the mind that observes and the self that feels. Individuation isn’t an end state. It’s a lifelong movement toward inner coherence, one honest conversation at a time.

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About the Author: Winona Lumague

Winona Lumague writes about the spaces between intellect and emotion — where healing meets the courage to be seen.

Written by Winona Lumague, civil engineering student, writer, and researcher exploring the intersection of psychotherapy, neurodivergence, and artificial intelligence.
Presented at the 2025 ADHD National Conference on October 19, 2025.
Published October 18, 2025.

Tags: #HealingWithWinona #Psychotherapy #Individuation #Neurodivergence #ADHDAwarenessWeek #MentalHealthPhilippines #LivedExperience