What will psychotherapy be like?
Psychotherapy will be like something familiar, but also like something unfamiliar. The familiar: Psychotherapy involves two people talking with each other, in a private office. This is why someone thought up the simplistic phrase “talk therapy”, which actually leaves out many important parts of the process. The unfamiliar: Probably the most unfamiliar aspect of psychotherapy …
How long will therapy take?
A reasonable question. Can it be clearly answered? Often I find that a concern about time can be addressed in a discussion about goals. If we can discuss and establish goals, then you know when you’ve accomplished them. But sometimes a person asking this question is also saying, I want speed and efficiency. I have …
What type of therapy do you practice?
For a number of reasons, people are uninformed and sometimes confused about how psychotherapy works—and especially about what works best. The situation is made worse by superficial discussions and dramatizations in the media. In my work I look at the meanings of things, including the meanings of behavior. The reasons behind actions, decisions, and even …
How will things change through psychotherapy?
One of the most important things I do in psychotherapy is to look at your experience, with you. That may sound rather vague. How you tick can powerfully affect how you live. How you think, what patterns of experience you seem to repeat, how certain feelings seem always (or never) to come up in certain …
What if I don’t know what is wrong?
Although some people contact me with a strong sense of what’s wrong, some people feel differently. They are suffering, or feeling stuck, without quite knowing what’s behind it. If you don’t know what’s going on, but you know that you don’t know, you are actually in a good place to begin the process. And if …
I know what’s wrong, I just can’t seem to fix it...
If you do actually know what’s wrong, that helps speed the process along. But if you think you know what’s wrong, while also feeling powerless or blocked somehow, then it becomes important to figure out what the block is. Addressing a block, or a feeling of powerlessness, can be a principal goal in treatment. But, …
How private or confidential is therapy?
Unless you are using insurance, the confidentiality of the psychotherapy process is virtually absolute. The rare exceptions govern those cases where someone presents a real threat of harm to himself or herself, or to someone else. If you are using insurance, then other factors do come into play. I discuss these factors with anyone who …
How can I possibly get to therapy during the day?
Sometimes even people who live or work right down the street from my office will ask this question. If you are asking yourself this question, then I might ask you whether you actually have more power than you think over your time. Issues about power and authority, and the feelings which accompany them, turn out to …
How much will psychotherapy cost?
This question is often in the back of people’s minds. Sometimes it gets asked in the form of, Can I use my insurance? Naturally it feels important to know something about the cost of undertaking an important new endeavor. In fact, many people find it easier to think about the cost than to think about …
Why do I have to be the one to do therapy?
Sometimes a person feels that his or her problems are largely the result of things done by a parent, or spouse, or someone else. If you feel this, then you can start to feel resentful. If it’s strong enough, resentment may even prevent you from taking steps towards treatment. It may be useful to realize …
Are work problems appropriate to bring into therapy?
Troubling patterns can occur at work just as much as they occur in personal situations. Interpersonal conflict, problems involving authority, and anxiety can all show up at work, just to name a few examples.