What exactly does therapy accomplish?

Therapy can be a wonderful tool to help people live happy, fulfilling lives. Therapy addresses a wide range of mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and grief, but therapy can also be used for purposes other than immediate mental health concerns. For example, if you are struggling with the stress of a new career, a therapist can help you develop strategies for managing the stress to get the most out of your new job.

What will happen in my first therapy session?

In your first session, your therapist will spend some time getting to know you and the issues that brought you into treatment. He or she may use a formal, structured interview, or it may just feel like a more free-flowing conversation. The therapist will ask questions about your presenting concerns, as well as your history and background. Most likely, you’ll find yourself talking about your current symptoms or struggles, as well as saying a bit about your relationships, your interests, your strengths, and your goals.

Most importantly, in that first session, you will begin making a connection with your therapist. You should feel safe, accepted, respected, and relatively comfortable. Not all therapists are right for every person, so use your first session to assess whether or not the therapist you chose feels like a good match for your personality.

How long will therapy last?

With therapy, there usually is no set length of treatment. Therapy can last anywhere from one session to several months or even years. It all depends on what you want and need. Some people come to therapy with a very specific problem they need to solve and might find that one or two sessions is sufficient. Other people come to therapy with more complicated issues they are grappling with and may feel they need a few months or more to understand and resolve their issues. Other people come with long-standing problems or difficult feelings and may benefit from longer-term therapy. The length of treatment may also vary depending on the type of therapy in which you are engaging. For example, cognitive behavior therapy or couples counseling tend to be short to medium term therapies, while psychoanalytically-oriented therapies may involve more medium to longer term work.