If you’re planning to attend a therapy session, you’re not alone. In a recent study conducted by the National Centre for Health Statistics (NCHS), the number of American adults accessing mental healthcare treatments has been found to have risen significantly of late – recently increasing to an astounding percentage of 21.6% of adults attending therapy in the US.
This is for good reason. Attending therapy has many advantages. Therapy can help reduce stress, increase happiness, and perhaps most importantly, improve a patient’s overall mental health. But despite this, there may still be questions you want answered before you attend therapy. Stay with us as we take you through them.
Table of Contents
1. What Type of Therapy is Right For Me?
When you attend a therapy session, the approach your psychologist will use to treat you will largely depend on your symptoms. Whether you’re experiencing anxiety or depression, trauma, or a mood disorder like bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, or schizophrenia, this will determine which type of psychotherapy is right for you. Some of the different psychotherapy approaches your psychologist may draw on in your therapy sessions can include:
- Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Interpersonal Therapy
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Humanistic or Existential Therapy
- Holistic or Integrative Therapy
Note that your therapist may not only utilize one of these methods – they might find that a drawing on a combination of several psychotherapies is most appropriate for you.
2. Is My Psychologist a Good Fit For Me?
When seeing a psychologist, you want to ensure they’re a good fit. You need to feel comfortable opening up to them and speaking candidly with them about your symptoms. As such, your psychologist needs to be on your wavelength, as well as be someone you respect and feel confident looking up to for advice.
Feeling a personal affinity with your therapist is largely subject to trial and error – you may find you need to see a few different psychologists until you find the one you feel most at ease with. Despite this, some pre-research can help with finding the right fit. Often, a psychology practice will list practitioner bios on their website. These will not only outline the therapists’ professional credentials, licenses, and accreditations, but they will also often include information about the practitioner’s personality, values, and consulting style. This can assist with ascertaining whether your new therapist will be a good fit for you before your session – although, you will only really be able to confirm this in person.
3. Which Mode of Therapy Attendance Suits Me Best?
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic – where mandatory periods of social isolation saw a rise in the attendance of medical and therapy appointments via telehealth – this mode of attendance appears to be here to stay. For many therapy patients, this is great news, the benefits of telehealth therapy are considerable. Think – reduced transportation costs and easier accessibility to appointments for geographically isolated patients, as well as the privacy advantages of attending sessions from the comfort of your own home.
Despite these benefits, however, some patients still prefer to attend therapy sessions in person. Why? Perhaps it’s because they feel a more personal connection with their therapist when attending their session face to face, or maybe, it allows them to more effectively express themselves. Ultimately, the decision on which mode of therapy session attendance you prefer is up to you, as there are pros and cons to each scenario.
4. Can I Commit to My Therapy ‘Homework’?
After you’ve attended your therapy session, your treatment doesn’t end there. You also need to put the actions your therapist has suggested into practice. In other words, you need to do your therapy homework. Often, this will involve completing activities that will help support and facilitate your recovery.
For instance, a socially isolated patient may be advised by their therapist to reach out to their network and rebuild social connections. Or, a therapist may advise a patient who is experiencing depression that they can benefit from participating in regular exercise, like a light daily walk. For stressed, anxious, or burnt-out patients, their therapy homework may include engaging in gratitude journaling, meditation, or breathwork to help combat their symptoms.