Quote:
Originally Posted by mostlylurking
Yes, you have to establish goals and be independent and there's little time for building trust or connection with the therapist. Why not, in that case, just buy some self-help books?
ETA: I don't mean to be dismissive of all short-term therapy, but it does seem more like guided self-help to me. For healing past traumas or dealing with attachment issues or longer-term mental health issues, I think that most of us need time to establish trust and connection with our T, and two to three months doesn't begin to give us enough time.
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I never said I was against long term therapy. I was specifically talking about psychoanalysis. And I realize that people with trauma need longer therapy than people who simply want to get over a phobia for instance. I do think though that some people (included me at the time) would benefit more from short term therapy rather than therapy with no definite end because therapy can get self-centered and complacent. It certainly was the case for me with my ex therapist. I don't have any trauma so obviously I wasn't talking about that. As for self-help books they're full of platitudes from what I have seen which is not that different from therapy in my experience. The difference is you get to interact with someone and that aspect alone makes it far more helpful than self-help books imo. But I also wouldn't use therapy now the way some people report doing on this forum which may explain our different opinions.