[blur]

that is what i saw a psychologist say on another forum. that by the 6th session you should be experiencing some improvement and if you aren't seeing any progress by then you probably won't even after continuing with that particular T. for those here who have experienced growth through therapy did you find this to be true that you saw improvement by the 6th session?

my experiences with therapy haven't been very helpful and with most of the Ts i saw there was little to no growth after years with them. yeah, i was young and clueless about therapy and stayed far longer than i should have. one was somewhat helpful but more spiritually then psychologically.

there was one T i saw for about six month and he was helpful pretty much from the start. unfortunately, he decided he needed to focus only on coaching instead of therapy and terminated me and all his other therapy clients.

so, did you experience improvement by the 6th session?

[wotchermuggle]

6 sessions? I have trust issues so my experience may be skewed, but I was still in the get-to-know-you part of therapy at 6 weeks.

[BlessedRhiannon]

After 6 sessions - I was barely starting to trust my T enough to actually talk to her. i don't think I saw genuine improvement for about a year. I've seen lots of growth in the past year or so, but I've also been with my T for 4 years now. I still have lots of work to do to get to where I want to be.

I think a lot depends on what type of therapy you are doing. If you're doing something that is designed to be a quicker, symptom based treatment such as CBT, then, yes, you might see improvement after just 6 sessions. It depends on the client, the T, and they type of therapy as to how quickly you will see changes.

[stopdog]

I think it depends = I have been going for three years and I don't know that I see improvement in why I sought a therapist that I would credit therapy with having provided.
It has its uses in some other ways that I know are not intended by the therapist. The therapist takes credit for some things but since they were not bothering me in the first place, I do not see them as improvements.

[tinyrabbit]

It took me six sessions just to believe my T didn't hate me.

[So hopeful]

The defenses, neuroses, character traits, what have you, that drive us to seek out therapy in the first place take a lifetime to develop and become entrenched and troublesome, and you're supposed to see improvements in six weeks?

I'd say maybe in six weeks you might have a fair idea of whether you want to continue working with a particular therapist or if you want to shop around some more. I felt pretty sure after the first session - and certain after the second - with my current therapist that I wanted to continue working with him. I guess I could call that feeling, which felt like a distant reminder of what it was like to be enthusiastic about something, an improvement. I felt 'better' by week six because I felt I had his support, but nowhere close to healed. 'Hopeful' might be a better word for it.

I've heard that some people benefit from short therapy (I always suspect the insurance companies when I read things like that), but it doesn't sound right to me. My therapist is pretty brilliant, but I don't think even he has that kind of power.

[blur]

great responses so far. thanks. i didn't mean total improvement by any means but just some progress or forward movement. that seemed to be what this T was suggesting and i really had no idea what to make of what he said. i figure if there is some truth to it then it might be a good guideline if i ever try another T.

i know a lot more than what i used to about choosing a T and have had both good and bad fit with Ts but even good fit didn't mean the therapy helped which was frustrating.

[doyoutrustme]

Depends what kind of therapy. CBT maybe. dynamic, no.

[Sometimes psychotic]

Yes but I had CBT and the total process took only 6 months.

[EllieBear]

Did I see improvement in 6 sessions? Absolutely not. For me things got worse before they got better, and it took a long time for me to really open up in T. What I do think is that in 6 sessions I probably had a pretty good idea of whether my T and I were a good fit. I could see that she understood me. I had the beginnings of trust with her. But I absolutely did not see things start to get better in 6 weeks or even 6 months. I read this thinking I'm so glad I didn't hear this when I first started with T. I would have given up thinking it wasnt working and missed the opportunity to have the life-changing experience I've had in therapy.

[content30]

Hmmm...like a few others said, I could tell my T was a good fit for me by then, but there really wasn't much improvement yet. I was just starting to open up....

[ultramar]

I don't remember the timing exactly, but I suspect that around the 6th session I was still in the throes of terror of being in a position in which I had to somehow trust this person...

Made huge strides since then, though

I think the statement you read may apply to CBT and/or therapy in which attachment is discouraged. I think either way, as someone mentioned, you could start feeling some relief at having support, but as far as deep, lasting shifts kind of change, no.

I actually vaguely recall seeing a therapist's website where he guaranteed improvement in x number of sessions (can't remember the number, but just a few). Made me think of some sort of anti-wrinkle cream...

[Perna]

Yes, I think knowing my T was a good fit and I wanted to work with her was "progress" and that was within 6 weeks. I committed myself to the work and set up internal guides for myself; it was something I wanted and was willing to work for and that was new experience

[Raging Quiet]

I'm only seeing an improvement in nearly 6 years!

Six weeks = six hours or less in some cases, that is not enough time to see improvement unless its cbt or addiction counselling maybe. But I agree with the others, most people in counselling have trust issues are in counselling because of this, they have known people all their lives and still don't trust them. So a t who can get a client to open up in less than six hours is a genius, or very skilled of course it depends on the client to and if they want to change

[Moodswing]

T#1 no improvement with my bulimia and self harming even restated but it took about 3 months for some of the depression to lift. T#2 EMDR yup improvement by the 6th session.

[WikidPissah]

I've seen t's for years with little to no improvement.
I saw a CBT for 8 weeks (Frau T nay whinny) and there was a world of change. Unfortunately, she referred me off to a trauma specialist who just didn't work for me, so I am now on a break from therapy all together.
(but doing well).