Gift link:
5 Likes
That’s exactly why I stopped paying for therapy. There is a point at which you need to recognize when you’ve learned what you can from it and don’t need it any more. If you keep going just because you can, you’re taking up resources of time and energy from other people who haven’t been yet and need to go.
You can always ask for books in your last session so you can keep up the new good things you’ve learned.
And if the therapist refers you to someone else or says you really need it, this doesn’t apply to you.
1 Like
What exactly? The article is a series of verbatim quotes about what it is like to see the world through the therapists eyes amongst 6 subject headings;
Subjects-
1-Certain things they can’t say to your face
2-Wild & intense is their normal 9-5
3-Too much therapy speak exists
4-intensity of sessions is inescapable
5-they all see clients differently
6-Covid changed everything
It doesn’t discuss the patient experience so not sure what you are referencing as the impetus for you to terminate treatment?
1 Like
Because therapy has a purpose. When you have met your goals in therapy, then you need to try to learn to continue with those goals on your own.
This is, of course, only for people who have met their goals and don’t have further need.
If more patients did this, then the professionals would not be so overburdened with people who have met their therapy goals but are paying for proxy friendship.
I understand the temptation, but I don’t do that.
I must have missed that in the OP article. Was there a specific quote that resonated?
3 Likes
@anon87843660, I get that! I have clients who I think are just about done, but they enjoy the experience of seeing me every week. I do a little nudging but I can’t tell them, hey, you’re done! Maybe I would if I didn’t have room for them on my calendar, but trust me, it’s good to have some clients whose lives are not in disarray or who are not constantly in crisis. (I am a therapist at a community mental health clinic, working mostly from home, mostly on Zoom.)
8 Likes
I think there are probably patients with a discrete issue who may need a certain number of visits and then they are finished with therapy.
I also believe there are patients with chronic issues that probably have more open ended therapy needs.
Sort of like the patient with a broken leg who might need a doctor to set their leg in a cast and the possibly need physical therapy for a set time afterwards versus the patient with a chronic disability for whom doctor visits are now a regular part of their life and will be for the foreseeable future. (Think MS or other chronic, non ‘fixable’ condition).
Not sure anyone should tout their own journey as a template for how therapy should evolve for anyone else. Nor do I think invoking “think of others who need mental health services” as a reason to stop utilizing mental health services is helpful either. No one should worry about being accused of blocking someone else’s access to health as they seek medical care. Lack of access is due to systemic issues, not because a patient is “hogging” their therapist.
5 Likes
Love this.
I have people close to me that are currently in therapy or have been in therapy in the past that have been help tremendously by their therapists. I think there is no “one size fits all” for therapy or for when you are ready to be done with therapy.
6 Likes
Like all college counselors, I hear a lot of what therapists hear. Part of the challenge for me is ensuring that I stay well inside my expertise, which does not include mental health diagnosis or treatment. That said, this quote resonates with my experience so much:
“Young people are hearing a lot of messaging around everything being ‘trauma.’ I think that is really dicey. I am not in favor of widening the clinical definition of trauma, because of the potential to look for trauma in places where it may not exist. And I feel people are also becoming more boundaried, shifting to this kind of cancel culture. Sometimes people think that cutting other people off is self-care, and they may be right. But sometimes you can have a conversation with someone and let them know they upset you, and work through it to have a stronger relationship as a result. I think people are losing those social skills involved in rupture and repair.”
— Jacquelyn Tenaglia, L.M.H.C.”
Yeah, I didn’t. I think if you’re paying for a “proxy friendship “ you may still need therapy.
1 Like