When do you know therapy is not working?

A therapist's answers to a client's questions cause the client to ask their questions again. A client realizes that they feel irritated because their therapist doesn't “understand” them. A customer needs to invent topics to talk about. A client doesn't think about their therapy between sessions.

Keep in mind that this won't be perfectly linear, and sometimes you can have bad days or even weeks. The declines or stagnations that you may see when you track your symptoms don't mean that your progress has stalled or that the therapy isn't working. It's more important to pay attention to the most important trends and try not to worry about the details of the day-to-day changes. The best indicator of whether the therapy will work is if you and your therapist are a good fit.

A therapist who accepts your values, understands your emotions, and who makes you feel accepted and listened to is the key to therapy. If your therapist doesn't offer this, it's time to try someone else. There are many reasons why therapy may not be working for you. Your therapist, the type of therapy they provide, and the way they relate to you may be the reasons.

You may not be ready to participate in the process that therapy requires, either. Like medications, he says, therapy can take a while to work. You shouldn't automatically be released on bail after a week, unless your therapist is violating your boundaries or is giving you other signs that they're not listening to you. Ideally, therapists should receive at least two or three sessions before you decide that it doesn't work for you.

However, therapy may also lose its effectiveness over time or may no longer be needed. Believe it or not, one of the most obvious signs that therapy is helping is that you're starting to feel better. The results won't come overnight, but over time you should gradually start to feel a little relief. Places like Pink Therapy make lists of therapists that are explicitly gay-friendly for a reason; someone with an interest and connection to your particular community or situation, whether they are part of it or simply have experience in it, can be very useful in therapy.

Some common misconceptions about therapy are that your therapist should give you advice or that therapy is a panacea. Good Therapy's excellent list of 50 possible signs of questionable therapy is worth taking a look at, but one of the things that stands out is any therapist who introduces a power dynamic in which they are unquestionable and you are inferior.

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *