Why Therapy Works.

Prospective clients entertaining the idea of therapy for the first time often ask: Why should I go to therapy? Does it even work? Will I need to attend therapy forever, or only after a few sessions? These are all fair and good questions to ask your therapist. After all, therapy is a service you pay for with both time and money, and you therefore deserve a straightforward answer to these questions.

History of Therapy

I find it important to understand the history of therapy, but for the sake of time, I will also skip the earliest history of informal therapy, which has been practiced for centuries. The largest boon of what is titled “modern therapy” began around the 1950s with Prenology and Freudian psychology. These Modern therapists treated themselves as the Expert in the room and the basis of their therapy was for clients to garner knowledge of rational and logical thinking from the therapist. Essentially, a hierarchy was in place wherein the therapist was the expert and clients followed their lead.

However, the therapy most practiced today (which I use) is what is considered post-modern, wherein therapists and clients are equals, and the therapist’s job is to allow space for the client to uncover their own solutions. The client is the expert and the therapist is the facilitator for change. 

Why therapy works

Imagine yourself cooking dinner on the stove. Your hand touches the hot stove-top for a split second, yet before the sensation of pain is noticed, your hand is already pulled away. This is what I like to call a split-second response. Your brain is conditioned to know, “hot equals bad, so I need to stay away from it.” When pain is especially bad, it is because the brain is specifically protective of vital pieces of your body that are needed for survival—which is why pain in your eyes and hands usually hurt more than other areas. 

The same can be said for emotional split-second responses. Whenever we react to a person or thing, we often find ourselves surprised by our actions because they are nearly conditioned responses. We subconsciously protect specific parts of ourselves with these split-second responses (e.g. trauma, abuse, or fear of being unloved). The therapy I do with clients is about uncovering the reason for those conditioned split-second responses so that they do not happen. Because the reason we have been conditioned for that response equates to a need not being met may be a need for safety, being loved, or not being heard. Therapy works because it rewrites the brain to regain control of these split-second responses so that you are being congruent with what you want to accomplish. 

How many sessions?

Fortunately, this is a rather easy answer. Research shows that an average of 15-20 sessions is typically how long it takes for therapy to work. However, I find that the choice of when to end therapy is a shared experience for clients and therapists. I have had clients experience tremendous success in as little as six sessions, and others who have enjoyed over a year's worth of sessions. This is a subject that I revisit with my clients continuously to make sure that a goal is always in mind for sessions so that we do not wander aimlessly. 

If you want more resources for this topic, please feel free to email me!