In Save Time and Money in Psychotherapy: A Four Part Series, I discuss important ways you can save time and money in psychotherapy.
Your Ability to Stay with Mindfulness
People come into therapy with different expectations. Someone may tell their therapist about 15 different things that bother them in the session with the hope that the therapist will make sense of it all for them and help them feel better. Someone else may not trust the therapist to be helpful but be more of a good listener who will occasionally reflect something back to them. There might be others who believe that what helps in therapy is a cathartic experience where they will yell, hit something, or cry, which helps them get whatever is bothering them out and feel better. It’s important to match the types of therapists you choose and their therapeutic orientation with your needs. Here are some ways to maximize how you use your time in therapy by aligning you with how psychotherapy works.
How Psychotherapy Works
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The goal of this article is to help you get the most out your experience. Most people come into therapy expecting to talk about their experiences in their lives. They may hope that they will get some kind of advice, leading to insights that will create change. We’re going to look at how you create your experience in Psychotherapy. Some people think Dr. Phil is going to tell them what to do. Other people think they are going to get Robin Williams in Goodwill Hunting. There are many different forms of therapy. If you are seeking advice that’s one thing, but if you are using psychotherapy to go to the depths that are going to create change, there are ways that you can do that which will save you time and money. In the kind of therapy that I and many other therapists do, rather than giving you advice, we’re going to look at your underlying beliefs, feelings, images, experiences from the past, and how those create repeating patterns in your life; and we would do this with the hope of getting enough information, willingness, and inspiration to try on new options. With enough understanding, you can develop the courage and willingness to try out some new patterns.
Going to Therapy is a Courageous Act
I believe it’s a courageous act to go to therapy. The therapist’s attitude should not so much about judging and analyzing, but holding space for you to get deeply in touch with yourself. This is my philosophy: I believe that there is organic wisdom inside you and it’s my job to help you find that. I support weaving all of the parts of a person’s being together: the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual because I see them as all interconnected. Through the use of mindfulness, and live experience, we can use the present moment to find those places inside that shape and color your reality. I see my job of therapist as the facilitator of bringing your outside experiences into the room. In order to accomplish this, I would guide you into a state of mindfulness to help you get a clearer sense of what’s being brought up, and how it’s impacting you in present.
Read part two: Save Time and Money in Psychotherapy: Mindfulness
Read part three: Save Time and Money in Psychotherapy: Talking About the Therapy Process
Read part four: Save Time and Money in Psychotherapy: Resourcing Clients
