So we have been focusing on the article 7 Things You Should Know Before Your First Therapy Appointment. What is interesting and expected is that these seven items (referrals, phone consultations, treatment progress, discomfort and emotional invasion, discussion of significant and life altering topics, advocacy and speaking up to therapist, and termination) often overlap and are discussions of topic over multiple sessions.
Frequently, what benefits the client is a mini-discussion on therapy and how therapy sessions are like one's birthdays. We should not expect to have surprize birthday parties with 500 people each year of your life. Some of your best birthdays might be small intimate events that were unexpectedly magical. Also, meaningful birthdays...
might be simply; dull, only later to see their meaning. This might even be a quiet day of solitude perhaps. Or mixing your birthday during your dream vacation. Good therapy will have the quiet birthdays or the bad birthdays. But those uneventful and dormant type days lead up to events of growth. Different birthdays allow for references of what you enjoy and don’t enjoy. Therefore, just stopping therapy because of boring or bad days is like stopping birthday celebrations because you had an ordinary or bland birthday. Individual sessions are not always able to visibly generate an epiphany. Sometimes the clarity is a combination of multiple sessions (which might seem boring or lacking progress).
Therefore, having, a good working relationship and having good rapport with a clinician allows for the therapist to work for you with insight and with direction toward your progress. This will include his creating your perception of boring and “nothing going on” into meaningful outcomes which will ultimately be Self-growth. Furthermore, this good relationship is strengthened when you, the client, speak up during the analyst’s mis-interpretation. An analyst’s feedback or consentual coaching is based on the exchange and release of information given. Therapist are trained to support the process of your feelings. However, we miss signals and we can be off track in guiding you down the path you might need to go. A good analyst/analysand relationship adjusts to these situations. Moreover, this off tracked situations are rich territory for client growth. Often clients could do more self advocacy by speaking up and discussing their view of accounts when they are not in the same direction of the therapist.
Lastly, boring sessions might be a potential energy building to a kinetic surge of growth. While asserting to be understood is invaluable in the process of the growth process.
Photo by Neil Thomas on Unsplash
Photo by Steve Halama on Unsplash
Read more about Dr. Strayhorn's practice and philosophy...
No comments:
Post a Comment