Information that might help when going to see a Psychotherapist

A recent article in the Irish Times published results of some research that was carried out by the Irish Association of Counsellings and Psychotherapy regarding people's reaction to attending psychotherapy and counselling.   According to the article unfortunately there can still be quite a stigma around people attending counselling and pyschotherapy and it would seem that quite a large number of people would still be  "embarrassed" about going to counselling or psychotherapy.  It would appear from these results that the stigma is still alive but the good news is that  it is getting less.  It is disappointing to hear that the stigma is still there but probably understandable considering our history on dealing with mental health issues and how we may have learned or not learned to deal with our emotions.

I believe it is essential to start making the idea of pyschotherapy and counselling more user friendly in order to challenge the stigma and I believe the first step is always about getting information out there and communication started.  So for this blog that is my intention;  I am going to give a brief introduction as to what you might expect from therapy and this may help if you are thinking about going to see a counsellor or a psychotherapist - if you have any questions or would like some more information you can email me on anneb@johnstowntherapy.com

Firstly what is the distinction between counselling and psychotherapy, counselling will tend to be shortertern you will attend fewer sessions and the therapy will possibly be more solution focused, so someone who might find themselves dealing with stress, or facing a crisis may come to counselling because they need some extra help and support and need to  learn some skills to deal with a present difficulty.  Psychotherapy tends to be longer term and sometimes people who have had some counselling discover other issues that they feel they may like to explore more deeply and choose to continue on with  psychotherapy.  With counselling and psychotherapy the therapist can use a particular model such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or Solution Focused Therapy, your therapist may  use the title Integrative Psychotherapist to describe how they work and with this model the therapist will most likely integrate different types of models into their therapeutic approach, this could be psychodynamic, gestalt, existential and other therapies such as art therapy, visualisations, meditation - only if the client is willing and would find it useful to work in that particular way.

You can expect to  have a first meeting with your therapist when they will discuss with you how they work, explain confidentiality, and boundaries around the work.  It is also an opportunity for you to put forward what your expectations of therapy are and what you might like to achieve during the process of your therapy work.  Yourself and your therapist will agree on a time and day that suit for your therapy and then you will meet once a week with your therapist for the duration of your therapy, that will be decided on and reviewed bearing in mind the issue that you may be dealing with.    Don't worry if you do not have it clear in your head as to what your expectations or goals are as this can be part of the process in therapy that as you talk about things you may start to get some clarity on what you might like - having goals is not in anyway essential  - it's more about having the space to talk and get support for whatever you may be dealing with.  Therapy is also about exploring our strenghts and our weakness, discovering who we are, getting in touch with what we believe, exploring and staying true to your values and belief systems, becoming aware of our emotions and how they impact on us, and in turn building our motivation, resilience and self-confidence.  I heard someone describe therapy as "emotional maintenance" a place where it is safe just to explore their experiences and have a safe place to talk; somwhere that they can be themselves without fear of judgement and become more aware of how their emotions impact on them and how they can learn to support, understand and manage them.

One important thing to remember is that your therapy is unique to you, it is your own personal process so although there may be a structure to counselling and psychotherapy no one answer fits all and that the issue that you may bring to therapy will be explored in a way that is appropriate for you.  Therapy works best when you have a good therapeutic alliance with your therapist, which will give the space for a healthy,  productive and collaborative working relationship.