[Permacultural]

Some may believe that all client problems are especially well-suited for therapy. In this thread, the topic question is:

What are the types of problems that are likely to be helped fairly quickly in ethical and effectively delivered psychotherapy?

This thread is not to discuss inappropriate client behavior in therapy, inappropriate therapist behavior, ineffectiveness of therapy, or other negatively oriented topics. There are other threads on these issues.

It would be nice if responses in this thread will assume that the therapist side of this thread is behaving ethically and following all rules posted by people in the "Signs of a Good therapist" thread and other threads like it.

I think there are certain types of client problems that can be really helped by an ethical and competent therapist.

My example is that several years ago, I was having lots of problems with grief after 2 of my friends were killed about a year apart from each other in work accidents. I fell into a really bad depression and had motivation problems, and my thinking wasn't clear. I had a real sarcastic view of life and couldn't see a future for myself. I felt like I would be next.

I started therapy and followed instructions. It took me about 14-15 sessions in therapy, and I noticed that I was thinking about their deaths in a different way. Instead of feeling like a victim, instead of being afraid that I would be next, I was looking at the situation as tragic and unfortunate. But my energy levels were back, and I was motivated to move forward.

So in my experience, one type of problem that therapy worked pretty quickly for is my depressed reaction to grief and loss.

[magno11789]

I would say some problems for me have been solved faster and others it has taken longer. Some smaller traumatic events didn't bother me after several sessions where as bigger traumatic events have taken longer. I also have an eating disorder that has not been a quick at all. However, my eating disorder is not as strong as it was when I wasn't in therapy and I have a lot less days now when I do not use behaviors.

[Partless]

I think anything with a significant psychological component to it and a client willing to put in the work and time (and money) can be addressed in therapy. Obviously some client issues are easier to fix and others more difficult or more time-consuming. I mean some people go into therapy needing basic information and problem solving, and therapist can be very quickly helpful in that. But some people go in there with personality disorders or with history of severe abuse and multiple traumas since childhood and in state of severe disability and although therapy can be very helpful in those cases too, it can't do magic in a short time. It requires hard work and patience and realistic expectations.

I have a history of both abuse and multiple traumas, latest one which I had mentioned before being suicide attempts of my sister, and I was upset when I found out I would not get immediate results. Yet I should have known, given that I had been in therapy before. But it's human nature in a way. We want pain gone asap and start believing somebody can do that. Of course there are medications to help with that and numb the pain when it gets too much, and meanwhile therapy can work through the pain slowly step by step.

[Argonautomobile]

I don't know if there are any problems ill-suited to therapy, but if the question is what problems can be resolved fairly quickly in therapy, I would think that has less to do with the nature of the problem than the severity of it.

Still, I've personally found that anxiety and esteem issues very treatable through therapy. Mild depressive episodes respond well to therapeutic interventions, too.

[Tearinyourhand]

Originally Posted by Permacultural

Some may believe that all client problems are especially well-suited for therapy. In this thread, the topic question is:

What are the types of problems that are likely to be helped fairly quickly in ethical and effectively delivered psychotherapy?

This thread is not to discuss inappropriate client behavior in therapy, inappropriate therapist behavior, ineffectiveness of therapy, or other negatively oriented topics. There are other threads on these issues.

It would be nice if responses in this thread will assume that the therapist side of this thread is behaving ethically and following all rules posted by people in the "Signs of a Good therapist" thread and other threads like it.

I think there are certain types of client problems that can be really helped by an ethical and competent therapist.

My example is that several years ago, I was having lots of problems with grief after 2 of my friends were killed about a year apart from each other in work accidents. I fell into a really bad depression and had motivation problems, and my thinking wasn't clear. I had a real sarcastic view of life and couldn't see a future for myself. I felt like I would be next.

I started therapy and followed instructions. It took me about 14-15 sessions in therapy, and I noticed that I was thinking about their deaths in a different way. Instead of feeling like a victim, instead of being afraid that I would be next, I was looking at the situation as tragic and unfortunate. But my energy levels were back, and I was motivated to move forward.

So in my experience, one type of problem that therapy worked pretty quickly for is my depressed reaction to grief and loss.

this is a great thread! assertiveness training is well suited for therapy. i was acutely dealing with a severe physical trauma inflicted by a MI client that has left me permenantly injured. it made me frightened, anxious and depressed. and made me more fearful of asserting my needs (because I had tried to w/ the client in question) than previous to the attack.

first couple of months were just processing the attack - and for a lack of a better way of explaining it - settling into my PTSD. there was little more my T could do but "be there" and help me stabilize. then we worked on various aspects of the situation that felt like things I had experienced in the past (not victim blaming of course) and slowly we begin to tease out patterns of behavior to examine and work on. now it's about developing a stable of assertiveness tools and practicing them over and over again. learning to recognize and respond to certain techniques abusers, busy bodies and control freaks use to maintain their sense of order with others.

of course I can't fix those people but through practice and scripting I am able to deescalate situations where others cannot tolerate my "No" or my "I do not wish to engage with you". disengaging when others cannot tolerate my autonomy keeps me safer and often results in bullies seeking stimulation elsewhere. It's been so empowering to practice these skills get the very reactions my therapist predicted (especially around these parts whoo boy) and see clearly I am safe and in control of my reactions even when others are not.