How to get the most from therapy
Here are a dozen tips to help you progress in counselling
Be truthful with yourself and with the therapist. In order for your counsellor to understand how best to work with you to achieve the outcomes you desire, they have to have a clear picture.
If you are unable to be honest with yourself then you make the job of helping you more difficult. For example when Joe tells the counsellor, or for that matter anyone, about his last failed relationship he says, “she was always unhappy, nagging at me to do things” The part of the picture Joe does not mention is that he hates having time commitments. He led his girlfriend to believe he wanted marriage but after 5 years had not gotten around to proposing. Always saying “weddings cost too much money, and he didn’t have enough saved up.”
Clients leave things out because they don’t want the therapist to think less of them. They believe if ‘you knew I yell at my spouse’ or I think ‘maybe I shouldn’t have had kids’ you would think less of me. Your counsellor needs this kind of information to get headed in the right direction. They will not judge you.
Alternately people hide the truth so the therapist doesn’t think less of another person, like a spouse or parent. The very act of protecting another person and …show more content…
If you are feeling it is time to end therapy then you should discuss this with your therapist. The process of discussing it has significant therapeutic benefit. You may have legitimate reasons for quitting ie. you realize you’re not ready to do the work at this time, or the therapist is not a fit for you. However, a lot of people quit once they feel a bit of symptom relief, once the crisis of what brought them into therapy has abated. They cut and run. Whatever your reason a skilled therapist will be able to openly discuss with you your concerns or readiness to move on and make it a positive
Here are a dozen tips to help you progress in counselling
Be truthful with yourself and with the therapist. In order for your counsellor to understand how best to work with you to achieve the outcomes you desire, they have to have a clear picture.
If you are unable to be honest with yourself then you make the job of helping you more difficult. For example when Joe tells the counsellor, or for that matter anyone, about his last failed relationship he says, “she was always unhappy, nagging at me to do things” The part of the picture Joe does not mention is that he hates having time commitments. He led his girlfriend to believe he wanted marriage but after 5 years had not gotten around to proposing. Always saying “weddings cost too much money, and he didn’t have enough saved up.”
Clients leave things out because they don’t want the therapist to think less of them. They believe if ‘you knew I yell at my spouse’ or I think ‘maybe I shouldn’t have had kids’ you would think less of me. Your counsellor needs this kind of information to get headed in the right direction. They will not judge you.
Alternately people hide the truth so the therapist doesn’t think less of another person, like a spouse or parent. The very act of protecting another person and …show more content…
If you are feeling it is time to end therapy then you should discuss this with your therapist. The process of discussing it has significant therapeutic benefit. You may have legitimate reasons for quitting ie. you realize you’re not ready to do the work at this time, or the therapist is not a fit for you. However, a lot of people quit once they feel a bit of symptom relief, once the crisis of what brought them into therapy has abated. They cut and run. Whatever your reason a skilled therapist will be able to openly discuss with you your concerns or readiness to move on and make it a positive