I believe psychotherapy can be a powerful vehicle of healing and growth. I make this statement based on my knowledge of science as well as my clinical and personal experience. Psychotherapy can be either short-term (problem-focused, targeting symptom reduction) or long-term (focused on repetitive, problematic patterns). My approach is personality driven, meaning the process is uniquely dictated by who I am sitting with. My main goal is to form a healing, healthy relationship with my patients. My effectiveness as clinician relies on equal parts science/technical skill and art/intuition/wisdom derived from my professional experience.
Let me list some reasons I believe psychotherapy can be helpful:
- Targeting reduction of symptoms of mental illness.
- Developing a healing therapeutic relationship based on the skillful provision of understanding, recognition, validation, and empathic confrontation.
- Adjusting to difficult life situations and changes.
- Acknowledging and working through traumatic experiences.
- Developing a healthy emotional life by identifying, expressing, and adaptively coping with a wide range of human emotion. Psychotherapy allows for the development of a complex language for emotion states and the ability to effectively communicate emotions to others.
- Becoming aware of your unconscious world of motivations, emotions, and thoughts that impacts your life, decisions, experiences, and fulfillment.
- Creating healthy relationships to yourself and others. This process involves developing a deeper understanding of your subjective experience, including feelings, beliefs about self, needs, and desires. In relationships, this includes identifying, and increasing flexibility in, unsatisfying relationship patterns.
Psychotherapy FAQ
Below are some frequently asked questions about the process of therapy:
How long does therapy take?
The length of treatment depends on a multitude of factors, including the nature of the problem, the goals of treatment, and a continuous review of progress by therapist and patient. As mentioned before, psychotherapy can be short-term or long-term, depending on the goals of treatment.
What do I ask my potential therapist?
Your questions should be specific to your needs. However, I would often inquire about the following general issues: credentials (Training and degree they hold? Are they licensed to practice?), clinical experience (In general? With your specific issue?), and way of working (theoretical orientation, how they envision therapy). When meeting a new therapist, we often have ‘questions behind the questions,’ such as “Can I feel safe with this person?,” or “Do I believe I can be helped by this person?” These questions are best answered over a period of time and experience in the context of the therapeutic relationship.
Is therapy proven to work?
Though there is a massive research canon supporting the efficacy of psychotherapy, nothing is proven to work. People are often surprised to find that therapy is very different from the medical model of being told what to do to help yourself. Psychotherapy is collaborative process where success is best predicted by the level of rapport between therapist and patient, the level of dysfunction, and the commitment of the patient to do what’s necessary to get well.
What happens if my therapist and I are not a good fit?
Trust your gut – a bad fit is a bad fit. Keep in mind, though, that when you have a negative reaction to a therapist, that reaction is an integral part of the therapy. Before you give up with this person, address your concerns with the therapist and see if they can respond to your concerns. A vital part of the work involves identifying when you feel you’re not getting what you need, learning to make these unmet needs explicit, and developing the strength to ask for them directly.
Do I prescribe psychiatric medications?
I do not prescribe medications to patients but I often refer patients to colleagues for psychiatric consultation, if I believe it may be helpful. Not all patients need this but some can benefit from a combination of psychotherapy and medication. For some patients with significant impairments in functioning, medication may help reduce symptoms to the point that they can optimally benefit from psychotherapy. This is a decision that I arrive at mutually with the person I am working with. Medications will never be forced on my patients or presented in a coercive manner.