On Psychotherapy:

You may be considering psychotherapy, but would like to know a little more about the process. Generally, over the first few meetings, we begin to explore the basic question of why you decided to meet with a psychologist. There may be an issue that is interfering with your personal/social life, work life, home life, etc. which is creating a lot of anxiety or depression. We may talk about the ways that you have been coping with the stress. You may be self-medicating (using alcohol, marijuana, etc.) or using some prescribed medication. We may talk about your family and friends, as well as your own background in order to gauge your support system. In general, we begin to explore the strategies that you have adopted and those strategies that you may feel are not effective in order to establish goals for change.

More people are going to therapy than ever before. Fortunately, there is an a la carte mix of styles, types and formats, so that you can pick and choose your type of therapy, therapist, length of time, place, etc. A professional can offer guidance about the best choice for you, but oftentimes, the best advice is to ask lots of questions and listen to the answers. If you feel comfortable with the answers and feel that the therapist may be able to help, then that is a wonderful first step towards an experience that may change your life.

photo by Matthew Septimus