Quote:
Originally Posted by Wawrzyn
My understanding of the way therapy works is that if you have a psychological problem that you cannot solve on your own you hire a paid professional, you share your problems with him or her, he or she helps you understand how to solve your problems, and then you move on with your life and hopefully apply what you learned in therapy. The therapy itself should last only a few months. But then you have people who, by their own admission, have been working with the same therapist for as many as 3-15 years. I believe that keeping a person in therapy for so many years not only says a lot about the curative capacity of the professional but also suggests a lack of ethics on their part.
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mental disorders and mental problems are not always as simple as hiring a therapist, see them for X amount of time and bam all better now.
each person has their own rate of healing, processing and unique problems. for example Some people with depression can be in therapy only for a few sessions where as another or other person(s) with depression can be in therapy for a life time.
some people are also what is called medication resistant. this means they have been on all kinds of medications there are for treating mental disorders for their problems but those medications dont work within their bodies due to allergies, or matabolism rate. like no one loses weight the same way people react differently to the same medications. what works for you may not work for others.
I know quite a few people who have only needed two or three therapy sessions and were able to get on with their lives and manage their mental disorders and daily problems and I have known many people who's files tell me they have been in therapy for decades.
there is no set deadline for how long a person should or will be in therapy. its all individualized for what each person needs.
and no it isnt unethical for therapists to be seeing their clients for years. whats unethical is shipping the client out into the world if therapists know that client still needs help. you see this topic appearing a lot where people are in the news for committing crimes that their mental disorders may have been a contributing factor and sometimes their treatment providers end up under investigation for not notifying appropriate agencies that this person may be a danger to himself and others and needs intensive in patient or outpatient treatment in order to continue being safe with their self and others.
If you think you have been in treatment too long you can get a second opinion, just tell your treatment providers you would like a psychiatric evaluation and refural for a second opinion regarding your mental disorders, problems and length of your therapy program.
