By Kelsey Renaud. Looking back, had I based my perception solely on the traditional representation of therapy in the media, I myself might not have become a psychologist.
You may or may not know this, but most postgraduate degrees in psychology or psychotherapy require its trainees to attend therapy themselves. So in addition to the experiences which our clients share with us, we also have our own first-hand experiences of therapy.
We know how challenging it can be to enter a therapy room for the first time and to share the most private or painful parts of your life with someone who is initially a stranger. Understanding how therapy works can help with that. Therapy is not only for people who are in a crisis or who are diagnosed with a mental illness. Anyone can benefit from therapy. People can get to know themselves better, improve their relationships, cope with difficult life experiences, learn to manage their mental health, work through past traumas, improve their mood, break unhealthy habits, and the list goes on.
Perhaps surprisingly, sometimes the most interesting things can emerge when no particular pressing issue is brought to therapy, so feel free to keep your scheduled appointment even if nothing out of the ordinary happened that week. Different types of therapy have different approaches with regards to how change happens. Therapy takes time to work. No big changes are generally expected in the first few sessions. Change happens gradually, and in a non-linear way. Each session lasts between 45 minutes to 1 hour.
A minimum of 8 sessions, and up to as many as you may need, is generally recommended until you feel that you are ready to end. Therapists do not have all the answers , they do not tell you what to do, and they do not do things instead of you. They help you to manage your life more effectively and independently. Think of us more as a sounding board or a mirror, rather than a mind reader or an advice-giver.
