What can I expect from my first therapy session?
1) Every therapist is different. Find one that specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy because that is the most successful methodology practiced today (in my opinion). You can expect to be asked what is troubling you today, as well as a lot of generic questions that they ask everyone on the first visit. 2) First session is the intake appointment and is usually 1 1/2 hours. Follow-up sessions are 50 minutes (but the bill you for an hour because they make notes the last 10 minutes). 3) No, your parents should not be present during your sessions......that would be counterproductive for a teenager. 4) If your problems are not severe, there therapist will recommend you come back in in a month or whenever you need to talk again. If they wrote you out a treatment plan, you'll see them 6-10 more times, usually every 2 weeks, maybe once a week for the first few weeks. All depends on your issues and the treatment needed. 5) The price of appointments varies WIDELY. If your parents are not wealthy, a community clinic and some private practices will see you on a sliding scale, meaning your parents will pay less for your appointments if they make less than the average. Do not worry about the money aspect -- if your parents have mentioned therapy, then you need to go and let them deal with the financials. 6) This also varies widely. Journaling is a common practice, as is training yourself to think more positive thoughts. Developing alternative coping mechanisms is common as well. All depends on your issues and the method your therapist prefers. 7) If your family has offered a therapist, you need to go. Absolutely everyone has problems and everyone will need a therapist multiple times in their life. The longer you go without help, the more severe your problems will become and it could debilitate you for your entire adult life. Please deal with your issues now while you are young so you will have a chance at a happy life. I wish you the best!
My first session of therapy is tomorrow and I am fully addicted to meth and trying to get on disability what should I do?
I’ve had the same meth habit.What it feels like is you have a million little problems. Me I had law problems, finance problems, relationship problems, lawyer problems, family problems, car problems, all kinds of stuff. And as well as that I was a total magnet for other peoples stupid problems too. I thought I needed the meth to keep it together enough to solve them.But it turns out I wasn’t thinking clearly. I blame the meth ;-)I had just one big problem. The meth problem. All the other ones either sorted themselves out or didn’t matter if I solved the big one.Heres the thing about getting clean. Your head is broken, try not to use it for a bit. It’s like a computer spitting out the wrong answer, but don’t worry that will change pretty quick.What you need is a few days clean. Really clean, not drunk and benzo clean. How you get that is easier said than done, but that’s the baseline.When you have a few days clean you have enough clarity to decide if you REALLY want to get clean, for good. Because if you do you are facing the challenge of your miserable life, and you are damn sure going to improve your odds with help.Where to get that help? Either a NA meeting or a treatment facility. Psychiatrists and therapists are great, but you aren’t going to reverse over an every day drug habit by seeing a counsellor once a week. Addiction is just so strong it bulldozes over half measures.Good luck. In 5 years you won’t even remember about the disability application thing, but you WILL remember if you got clean,.
Can I ask my therapist for advice outside of our sessions?
Typically no.The reason that you have time outside of sessions is to practice navigating difficulties and symptoms on your own.Therapists (myself included) are reticent to be “too available” (unless an emergency) because we don’t want to foster dependency.My goal is for you to not need me for anything - to feel confident in what you are doing - and that you are able to make solid decisions, and have solid symptom management without having me to fall back on.I am your “safety net” while we’re in treatment - for my clients, we had the rule that you only contact me between sessions if you are feeling unsafe toward yourself and/or others.I also was a therapist with a definite treatment plan, an estimated stop date, and therapy usually lasted only 6 months or so.Good therapists don’t “give you advice,” they help you navigate choices on your own, and learn processes to do that. Otherwise they become a crutch that you’ll never leave, and you won’t learn how to trust yourself.People like me who would not give you advice out of session aren’t jerks - we’re just people who genuinely want you to get better. I explain all of this to patients I’ve had. It’s tough - but they get it, and they come to really appreciate it.Setting boundaries that make you uncomfortable and challenge you outside of session is one way we do that.I want you to be powerful and confident…but that always starts with uncertainty…and we’re in therapy to work out the kinks of how that plays out - but make no mistake, the majority of your work will happen when I’m not around, and it’s for a reason.I don’t foster dependency, I don’t string people along in therapy forever, and my job is to give you the tools to empower yourself to navigate what you need to do effectively.I don’t want you to need me.
Have you ever been to a therapy session? How did it go?
Yes and it helped me a lot! Mostly, just to talk to someone who I felt could be totally objective towards my situation..I felt like all my inside hurts were being displayed; like a story for someone else to read; someone who could be objective, nonjudgmental and silent, as I spoke..it was such a relief for me. I think a therapist can listen, be removed from the situation and offer advice from a professional point of view; yet remaining empathetic and supportive… my experience, of courseAll the best
Is it a good idea to prepare for your therapy sessions over the week or should you just show up without any thought out themes, stories and preparation? The second kind of sounds scary too me.
Let your therapist know about this fear and you might learn more about yourself. It will be very useful for you to find out what makes it so scary to be unprepared and open for ‘what comes up’ in the session (or in other life situations which you haven’t ‘prepared’ for - or have prepared for and then something unexpected happens).If you want to spend time preparing for the next meeting it helps to consider what has been important for you in the last one, what themes bother you or have left you with questions. Taking notes after the session is useful but you won’t need more than an hour for this.Therapy, important as it is, is only part of your life. Unless you live it you won’t notice the impact of your new insights and feelings and the steps forward you have made.
How should I start a therapy session? My therapist just sits and looks at me until I start to speak and I never quite know what to say.
Yes, it is hard to know what to say until you get into the groove and have established a trusting relationship with your therapist. Still, it’s a good practice for your therapist to wait because what is on your mind this week may be totally unrelated to what was on your mind last week, even if what you said last week was important.As a therapist, I learned this the hard way. Somebody has a session where they are in a terrible state over a painful event in their lives. I start the next session by asking them how things went with that, and they look at me quizzically because they’ve moved on and wonder why I haven’t or worse—they felt much better until I reminded them.Even though I am a therapist, I’ve found it hard, from time to time, to begin to speak my own sessions in my personal therapy because politeness suggests I ask my therapist how she is—but, is that what I’m paying for?My vote is that you carry a little pad and write down stuff you might want to talk about—but first: Tell your therapist how awkward you feel so you can understand your reactions better. Are you afraid of being rude? Do you have so much to say that you feel you’ll never get it out so nothing gets out? Is there something about the way your therapist looks at you that makes you uneasy? Keep talking. That’s all you have to do when the hour starts.
Are therapy sessions usually once a month?
The biggest horrific term for a therapist is cure, they will never say they will cure you, unless you address the issue, then they must be honest. Don’t be taken advantage of, you may not need therapy at all. Therapist are not what you think they are. Their only a shoulder to cry on, they can’t do anything to solve a problem, they can’t even give you advice, just suggestions. they must be above you, if you think you have a weakness they will pray on that. Depending on their business they will have you coming back for the rest of your life…