I have
been seeing a psychotherapist off and on for the past ten years. I felt like
she did me a lot of good. After a break of two years, I returned to her to
deal with heavier issues (sexual abuse and related issues) and everything
seemed to have been going okay, but the six months or so, psychotherapy has
been slow going. My question is this: in spite of all the time we’ve
worked together, we have never discussed a treatment plan or setting goals
in psychotherapy. How important is it and is this something that could be
contributing to my feelings that psychotherapy is not going the way I would
like?
Some forms of structured and focused treatment, such as
for phobias, have
very precise treatment plans; other forms of treatment, such as
psychoanalysis and
psychodynamic psychotherapy, have no more plan than “say whatever
comes to your mind, bring in your
dreams, and
let’s see what happens.” Yet, either one of these extremes is still
a treatment plan.
Anyone in
psychotherapy, however, deserves to know the treatment plan, whatever it
might be. If you’re not clear about the plan, then ask, because it’s
your right as a
consumer to have some clarity
about the treatment. Moreover, if the treatment is not going the way you would like,
it is important to speak up and discuss this with your psychotherapist. Just be careful
to understand that psychotherapy can be counterintuitive, and so you may be making progress
even if it doesn’t seem that way to you in the moment. Thus it is important to maintain
constant honest
communication with your psychotherapist about your ongoing experience.
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