The loss of a sense of authorship over one’s own life does not always come with a dramatic crisis. According to Dr. Daniel Reinhardt, it more often unfolds quietly – through the feeling that decisions are made “on their own,” while life events seem to move forward by inertia. At MindCareCenter, we regularly work with states in which a person formally makes choices but does not internally experience themselves as their source.
This disruption of subjective agency develops gradually. A person may spend years adapting to the expectations of their environment – family, partner, professional demands, or social norms. Decisions are made from the logic of “this is right,” “this is expected,” or “this is safer.” Over time, the connection to an inner impulse weakens, and choice stops being experienced as a personal act. At MindCareCenter, we see how this leads to feelings of emptiness, inner passivity, and a loss of motivation.
Our psychologists note that the loss of life authorship is rarely about a lack of willpower. On the contrary, it is often rooted in prolonged experiences where expressing one’s own position carried risk. Criticism, punishment, emotional rejection, or instability may have shaped the belief that adaptation is safer than initiative. The psyche chooses protection – but the cost is the loss of the sense of “I choose.”
In therapy at MindCareCenter, the work begins with restoring contact with inner reactions. We do not aim to immediately push clients toward major decisions. Instead, we first help them notice where the right to micro-choices has been lost – in everyday actions, preferences, and rhythms of life. As sensitivity to these moments returns, a gradual sense of participation in one’s own life begins to emerge.
Over time, it becomes clear how much accumulated tension lies beneath automatic decisions. A person may experience irritability, exhaustion, or apathy without linking these states to the absence of authorship. Our specialists help make this connection visible – so that internal signals are no longer ignored and can once again serve as guides.
Special attention at MindCareCenter is given to the topic of responsibility. For many clients, authorship is associated with the fear of making mistakes and the inability to hide behind circumstances. We help reshape the perception of choice – seeing it as a process rather than a final verdict. This reduces fear and restores a sense of inner support.
Gradually, therapy at MindCareCenter allows individuals to feel that their decisions matter not because they are perfect, but because they belong to them. Inner agreement with oneself appears, even when the path remains complex or uncertain. Restoring subjective agency brings back a sense of vitality and engagement with life.
It is important to understand that losing authorship over one’s life does not mean it is gone forever. This is a state that can be reassembled. At Mind Care Center, we accompany this process with care – helping step by step to restore the right to choose, to feel the consequences of those choices, and to once again experience oneself as the source of one’s own life.
Previously, we wrote about how the connection between bodily reactions and awareness becomes disrupted and how MindCareCenter works to restore psychosomatic integration.