Gregg Chapman
Chapman Marques Psychology & Relationship Counselling
You can get the most benefit from your psychology sessions by taking a few simple steps. Simply turning up is not giving yourself the best chance of therapy benefitting you. It’s logical to want value for our time, money and effort. Here’s how to play your part to ensure this happens for you.
Before the session
It seems obvious to say that preparation is essential if we want our efforts in any realm to succeed. Why should our psychology sessions be any different? This may sound unusual to some people but, as therapists, we do occasionally have a person tell us they don’t know why they have attended a session. Or, they may say they are unsure of their reason for attending.
Well, therapists can do their best to help these people work out what they see as the area they are struggling with. However, it is certainly more efficient if you can give your therapist as clear an idea as you can of what it is that you’re experiencing. Stating your diagnosis (if you have one) is not enough. It will require a lot more questioning by your therapist. Stating your diagnosis and how it impacts your daily functioning and relationships; the history of your experience; what you have tried; and, what has or hasn’t worked so far is going to help your therapy far more.
One way to analyse your situation is to think through the various dimensions of life and note those where there is a struggle. (And, it may seem they all are impacted in some cases). The dimensions of life (in random order) can be listed as:
Work and career
Intimate relationships (e.g., marriage, couples, partnership)
Parenting
Personal growth, education, learning
Friends, social life
Health, fitness, physical self-care
Family of origin (parents, caretakers, siblings you grew up with)
Spirituality, the environment
Community life
Recreation, leisure.
Think through if, and why, there is a struggle in a given area, the history of it, what you’ve tried to sort it out, what worked, what didn’t work, what made things worse etc. You have the idea.
Prepare before every session, even if only thinking for a few minutes as you travel to your session, to get maximum benefit.
Importantly, try to think what your goal(s) may be in therapy. Think about what you want to work on between sessions. And, think about how you’ll know you no longer require help through therapy. Your goals need to be positive rather than negative. That is saying you don’t want to be depressed will be understandable but it is by far more beneficial to offer something like you would like to increase socialising, or comfort eat less, drink less, sleep better etc.
Ask your GP
If you are entering therapy via a Mental Health Care Plan you might ask your doctor their experience with a given therapist. Of course, not every doctor will know every therapist. But, your doctor may be able to offer an opinion.
Seek a therapeutic “best fit”
Not every therapist, style or form of therapy is going to be the liking of everyone. You might browse the website of therapists you are considering seeing to work out if they seem like a good “fit”. Most importantly, ensure the therapist you are thinking of seeing treats the particular type of struggle you’re experiencing. Not every therapist treats all conditions. If you don’t find a listing of conditions treated (and not treated) on your therapist’s website, you might want to phone their receptionist to enquire for more detail.
Once therapy has begun
Keep an open mind, trust, and be patient.
Therapy can sometimes be brief. More rarely, sometimes it may extend over years for more serious difficulties. Sometimes it will seem to be more beneficial than other times. There may well be stumbling blocks as well as stepping stones. Some ideas and techniques will likely be uncomfortable. Your therapist is a trained professional, trust them to have your best interest to the fore.
Communicate openly.
It will help if you express any thoughts and feelings you have in the moment during therapy or between sessions to your therapist.
Don’t rely on memory.
Take notes during session. You can do this either on your i-phone, in a note-book, or on a clipboard your therapist can provide. It’s too easy to forget or confuse details in memory. Also, between sessions it is a great idea to jot down notes on your experiences. Therapy needs to be part of daily life. Restricting it to therapy sessions is naturally not likely to offer much benefit.
Complete your between session tasks.
I find this is one of the most significant factors in therapeutic success. Colleagues tell me they share this experience. Not all sessions will result in the therapist allocating between session tasks. However, most will. Some tasks may involve some writing or filling in forms. Others will involve addressing unhelpful self-talk or changing observable behaviours. If you find yourself unable to complete a between session task, note down your response to it and your experience and discuss this in the next session.
Be aware there will possibly be some relapses.
Working on your struggle may likely involve both success and occasional failure. It’s the “two steps forward, one step back” notion. Acknowledge your wins. Don’t fixate on any relapse.
© Gregg Chapman, 2021.