I'm not sure I have my own expectations about how long I'll be in therapy. My T did say when I first started with him that he doesn't do longterm therapy, which he defined as over 3 years. Yet I have now been with him 3 years and 2 months. So he appears to not be firm on that cut-off. He has told me before that he has some clients that he hasn't seen for years and then they come back for a "tune-up" when a new issue arises in their life that they need help with. He says they just pick back up where they left off and it works well. So maybe that is what I will transition to at some point. I used to go to therapy weekly, but now I go every 2-3 weeks. I would probably see my T indefinitely every few weeks if he would let me, although the cost is high since he is not covered by my insurance. I still have stuff to work on in therapy, so for now I will keep going.

Every client has different goals. There is no one "goal of therapy," IMO. I have a number of goals but that one has not been on my list--I just never really thought about it. My goals include learning to be more authentic, recognizing feelings as I experience them, finding my voice, communicating better, working on trauma, and more.