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What Actually Happens In Psychotherapy?
Sometimes people wonder how psychotherapy works or could help them. They worry they'd be judged or viewed as unable to manage their lives. They may not realize that therapy is actually about helping people build on strengths and positive qualities they already possess.
People come to therapy because they are having difficulty getting their needs and desires met either because of a condition such as depression, anxiety or addiction, or situations in which their usual life strategies and coping skills no longer work effectively for them.
Therapy is a relationship created for the sole purpose of helping people learn to have more control in their life, function as capably as possible, and confidently act from their personal inner values.
It begins with a thorough assessment. This is done to understand what your overall life is like, as well as identifying particular areas where you are having pain or difficulty.
There's no “one-size-fits-all” approach to therapy. Each person has a unique situation and life story, so there's no style that would apply to everyone. Therapists make use of many techniques and strategies to help people live more skillfully and have improved relationships with others.
People often wonder when they'll see changes. There's no exact answer to that. It depends upon many factors.
Some concerns are very clear and need only several sessions until the person feels able to manage on their own. This is usually where someone has a relatively clearly defined problem that needs just some talking through to handle it with confidence.
Therapy lasts longer when multiple issues are addressed. Some conditions take longer to lessen or resolve. But one goal is always the same to help the person (or couple or family) be more effective at getting their needs met.
We develop strategies for dealing with situations over the course of our lives that we rely on commonly (even automatically). If more effective ways of handling things are needed, it might take time and encouragement to let go of old, reflexive ways of dealing with things while learning new ones.
Psychotherapy deals with the deepest needs of people each of whom has unique abilities to get those needs met. It is about helping people look at what is working well for them already and discovering ways to change things that are not, so they can feel better about themselves and function more effectively in day-to-day life.
