Why Therapy?
Many people wonder if therapy would be helpful in their lives. Most often, they are experiencing significant distress but are unsure that therapy will be helpful. They’ve heard from other people that therapy just doesn’t work or that others ‘don’t believe in therapy’. There is also a sense of mystery; what actually happens? Do we ‘just sit and talk about things’? Additionally, people often hear of others’ bad therapeutic experiences. Situations that range from ‘it just wasn’t helpful’ to therapeutic relationships that were actually retraumatizing. Therapy can be enormously helpful but many things go into making it a success.
The therapist, him/herself, is the primary tool with which the work is done. Things like educational background, both formal and informal, the therapist’s self-knowledge, boundaries, and ability to seek assistance from other professionals, when needed, all play a part. Educational background doesn’t only refer to where your therapist went to school or what degree was received. It is also a reflection of the therapist’s interest in staying current and relevant, and challenging him/herself to grow and develop. Often, the actual receipt of degree is just a starting point.
Of course, skill also plays a roll. Skill includes the therapist’s ability to maneuver in the complex emotional experiences at play in the therapy room and ultimately work with these experiences to help the patient achieve meaningful change. Many therapists agree that the most effective treatment modalities are an integration of different styles, such as analytic work with cognitive behavioral or DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) and happen naturally within the consulting room. This doesn’t always mean that an effective therapist has formal training in other modalities and is consciously integrating them. Often, an effective therapist is naturally skilled at bringing in a slightly different focus when called for and in response to a patient’s needs.
Goodness of fit is key to a successful therapy. Prospective patients can notice that the initial consultation/first therapy appointment is a reflection of the type of work that will be done and the therapist’s approach. Different people will look for very different things in a therapy but, overall, it should feel like a space in which one can picture change occurring. Sometimes, this potential will be felt within the first session or two and sometimes it takes a little longer.
Therapy can be quite rewarding. It can create lasting change in relationships with others and with oneself. It can also provide necessary support in managing chronic, long-term emotional and/or physical difficulties. And, of course, therapy can help lessen emotional suffering.