How is therapy effective when you (typically) only talk for one hour per week?
In: 306
You talk 1 problem at a time, so you can start one session talking about an issue and end that session with “ok this week let’s try to do this” which involves some kind of actions to take to improve the behavior in question.
So eventually week after week of doing so you start improving as you start changing your lifestyle one step at a time.
Other times you just want to vent at someone withour being judged and that’s it. They do that too, and it feels good.
My therapist game me strategies to help me during the week. I think people expect therapy to be like a magic pill that just fixes you if you go enough. They don’t realize that you also have to put in effort to get better.
It gives you and possibly your partner, if in couples therapy, an unbiased professional outlook/opinion on what you have going on in your life. Sometimes you don’t have anyone to talk to, or you don’t have anyone who has an unbiased opinion or viewpoint. Talking personally and honestly with a therapist is more about opening up a conversation with yourself, as you face things you normally might not.
The therapist just gives you the guidance and tools to help you figure your stuff out, they don’t fix your problems for you. One hour a week is ideal because beyond that and you might just end up rambling, or your therapist could get lost in what you’re trying to convey.
You can think of it like exercising. You don’t get stronger during the workout (therapy session), you get stronger as you heal (reflecting and making small behavior changes).
My therapist game me strategies to help me during the week. I think people expect therapy to be like a magic pill that just fixes you if you go enough. They don’t realize that you also have to put in effort to get better.
You build up a model of your therapist in your mind, your inner therapist. You work with it between sessions. During sessions you train and calibrate that model.
My therapist game me strategies to help me during the week. I think people expect therapy to be like a magic pill that just fixes you if you go enough. They don’t realize that you also have to put in effort to get better.
It gives you and possibly your partner, if in couples therapy, an unbiased professional outlook/opinion on what you have going on in your life. Sometimes you don’t have anyone to talk to, or you don’t have anyone who has an unbiased opinion or viewpoint. Talking personally and honestly with a therapist is more about opening up a conversation with yourself, as you face things you normally might not.
The therapist just gives you the guidance and tools to help you figure your stuff out, they don’t fix your problems for you. One hour a week is ideal because beyond that and you might just end up rambling, or your therapist could get lost in what you’re trying to convey.
It gives you and possibly your partner, if in couples therapy, an unbiased professional outlook/opinion on what you have going on in your life. Sometimes you don’t have anyone to talk to, or you don’t have anyone who has an unbiased opinion or viewpoint. Talking personally and honestly with a therapist is more about opening up a conversation with yourself, as you face things you normally might not.
The therapist just gives you the guidance and tools to help you figure your stuff out, they don’t fix your problems for you. One hour a week is ideal because beyond that and you might just end up rambling, or your therapist could get lost in what you’re trying to convey.
As a Brit, I just don’t get the American apparent obsession with therapy just to get through normal life. Perhaps I should have just internalised this like all my other issues……because I’m a Brit.
Latest Answers