What to Expect During Therapy
“Mental strength is not the ability to stay out of the darkness; it is the ability to sit present in the darkness knowing that the light will shine again.”
What is the Goal of Psychotherapy?
The primary aim of therapy is to help you function more effectively.
Whether this occurs by resolving past issues, reducing stress and turmoil, or working with present events, we help you to deal with life’s challenges and traumas. Common concerns addressed in therapy are:
- Improve functioning in important areas of your life
- Adjusting to health changes
- Major life transitions
- Traumatic experiences
- Current life stressors
- Mood issues
What to Expect from the First Session
During the first session, your doctor will take time to get to know you and hear your story.
The goal is to establish trust, learn about you, understand what brought you to therapy, and talk about what you hope to accomplish.
Your doctor will also talk about expectations, confidentiality, and may ask you to fill out some additional paperwork.
You will work with your doctor as a team to set practical and realistic goals for treatment and to outline an initial path to achieve them.
What to Expect from Following Sessions?
Treatment will be tailored to your needs during every session. As your doctor gets to know you better, you will work to identify new ideas, obstacles, and solutions to try.
Each session will build on strengths you have developed. At the end of each session, you will work with your doctor to develop workable tasks to try outside of therapy.
You and your doctor are partners in designing your treatment to fit your needs, and all decisions in therapy are yours to make. The duration of therapy entirely depends on your needs and goals.
What to Expect from your Therapist?
The relationship between you and your therapist is an important component of your success in treatment.
You have the right to expect your therapist to be respectful and professional as well as to keep your information private and confidential. At the same time, your doctor will be caring, supportive, and appropriately challenging.
Your work together is expected to be collaborative and you may be given some work to do outside of the session in order to maximize the benefits of treatment.
Ultimately, the relationship with your doctor is designed to be a partnership, with your optimal well-being as the ultimate goal.
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