A comment on another thread made me wonder about this. That poster pointed out that there is a stage in therapy when clients often become frustrated with the process, even to the point of thinking it's all a giant con game. Meaning it's a stage you have to work through, kind of like the stages of grief.

So I wondered about stages in therapy. Googling gets you lots of therapists' perspectives, most of which have to do with the "healing" part of therapy - like, 1) presentation of problem, 2) admission that change needs to happen, 3) change, 4) termination. They vary, but stuff like that.

And that's all good in an ideal world, but what about stages of attitude/emotions towards therapy from a client perspective? Not necessarily talking transference, attachment, etc. here (since I do not think that they are really stages), but more like this. I would characterize my own stages so far, in seven months, as:

1) Reluctance (overlaps with Stage 2)
2) Hope (that this might actually help)
3) Resolve to get down to business (the current stage)
4) (possible new stage) Increasing irritation (overlaps with Stage 3)

Have you observed any such stages in your therapy? This isn't a question about opinions of therapy, or the therapeutic relationship, or your feelings towards your therapist, but your own attitudes towards therapy itself.