How To Make Therapy Successful
I have been asked by clients how to get the most bang for their buck in therapy. Really, the success of therapy depends on the client. It is your comfort level with the therapist, your level of honesty with yourself and the therapist, and how much you utilize (outside of the session) skills the therapist teaches you inside session. If you don’t believe in a technique that the therapist is trying to get you to practice, be honest with them and tell them you don’t believe it will work for you. Then the therapist can either help you figure out what is getting in your way of trying that activity, or they can try another method of helping you. You are the only one that knows if something will truly work for you, so you need to guide the therapist in what would work best for you.
Some ideas for making therapy successful:
- Show up and be open to new things. Often times people are so uncomfortable with learning new things that they drive up, park and never enter the therapy office. Showing up for some people can be the most difficult part. Once people get comfortable with a therapist, often, they actually look forward to attending therapy to get the support.
- Keep a journal outside of session so that you have ideas of what to talk about in your session. (Read the blog post “How Do You Journal?” for ideas on how to start).
- Take notes in your session with your therapist so you don’t forget points that you thought were important.
- Ask questions if you have questions.
- Try the techniques that your therapist is teaching you. If it doesn’t work, then you can move on to the next thing. Sometimes we get caught up in what is comfortable and we are resistant to doing something new. But remember that change is often uncomfortable, even if it is good change.
If you are looking for individual therapy or couples therapy in Long Beach, please give me a call to ask me a question or to set up an appointment.