[Seelenna1982]

How many times per week do you have therapy? Did your T suggest the frequency or you? At which point did appointments increase or decrease? How was that decision made? Anyone just plain ask to go more often?

I struggle during the week but strangely to me, any week I’ve had 2 appointments for some reason, I’ve managed much better. My issue is, ove managed to request an extra session (with encouragement from your guys) every now and then, but how might I approach requesting more sessions per week for a short extended period of time. I really feel this would eliminate many of my weekly issues but I hate to need or want something. Especially if I’m getting it from someone else. So instead I just say nothing, knowing that 50mins a week just doesn’t feel like enough time to get anywhere. I reset every week so start back at the beginning each time. It’s been 9m and I’m not comfortable, I have trouble talking at all. Maybe I’m being impatient but I really want this all to go somewhere.

[junkDNA]

t suggested twice a week in 2010 and we did that for 7 years. currently at once a week. sometimes once every two weeks

[toomanycats]

I see my individual T 2x per week & also have group therapy 1x per week.

I requested this frequency a couple of weeks in.

[katydid777]

I only see my T once a month, bc I can't afford it. If I didn't need the support, I wouldn't have a T bc of $, but I know I need this.

[LonesomeTonight]

I see my individual T twice a week. I switched from going just once a week in February. It was his suggestion. For a few years, I'd been seeing my ex-marriage counselor once a week (he sort of provided me with some individual therapy within there--it's complicated), plus either ex-T or more recently current T once a week. So I'd been having two therapy sessions a week, though one of those was with ex-MC. In January, H and I started seeing ex-MC only once every few weeks.

I was talking about this with current T in late Feb./early March, and how I was struggling, and he said, "So basically your therapy time has been cut in half." I said yes. Then he asked if I wanted to try twice a week with him. And I've been doing that since then. He's checked in a few times to make sure twice a week still works for me (it has been), and he's said I can keep seeing him at that frequency as long as I find it helpful. I do find it helpful--I feel like we're making more progress and getting more work done. I don't spend as much time recapping my week because less time has passed between sessions (though I've gotten better with not doing that in general), so we have more time to do real work. I also think it helps me with my attachment issues (even if we don't spend much time actually working on that).

So if you think it could help and can afford it, I'd suggest giving twice weekly a try. You can always just go back to once a week (which I plan to do eventually, though not this month or next, which are stressful months for me for various reasons--well, the holidays this month!)

[Merope]

I see T once a week. Ideally, I would like to do therapy twice a week, but I can't afford it at the moment. Always fantasized about buying all of his sessions for one day so that I can spend a whole day with him haha. Could just eat beans on toast for that month...

[ElectricManatee]

I used to see my T at a university counseling center where every other week was the only option available. Once I started seeing her in private practice about two and a half years ago, I went weekly just because that's sort of the default. After maybe three or four months, she suggested going to twice a week based just on the sheer volume of things I was dealing with (death of a parent, death of a beloved former T, trying to finish my dissertation, etc). She suggested going back to once a week a few months later, but I wasn't ready so it was really hard when we tried it. Since we went back to twice a week, I have been able to make tremendous progress. Like, earth-moving things that I never thought were possible. So a higher session frequency made a huge difference for me (more than twice as much progress, for sure).

I feel comfortable and confident enough now that I could ask for once a week or twice a week or every ten days whatever I thought would work best for me, but I definitely understand not feeling like you can ask. I don't think I would have ever asked for twice a week if my T hadn't offered. I understand now that she wants to be there for me in the ways that I find helpful and she does get paid twice as much, so it makes total sense that she's fine with this schedule. But wanting and asking and putting yourself out there to potentially feel judged or rejected can be a very scary thing.

[Salmon77]

My T suggested we meet twice a week while I was going through a rough patch and we've stuck with that. I find it more helpful than once a week, we get deeper into the conversation about each issue instead of a lot of "X happened and then Y happened etc."

I think you can definitely ask for more frequent sessions, just say what you wrote here, that you have trouble feeling comfortable and you think coming twice a week might help.

[Everyday12]

I go every 2 weeks.I wish I could go more but T doesn't have any openings. That's the problem being in a rural area,limited access to any kind of healthcare.

[zoiecat]

I started once a week almost 2 years ago to get over a car accident. We started EMDR and I learned that many of my issues were related to all of my childhood trauma.

Due to the amount of crap we needed to work through I asked if it might be faster to go twice a week to spend one day on the accident and one on old traumas and he agreed. He knew I did not want to be in therapy forever.

Since then he diagnosed me with DID amoung other things and the list of stuff to work though continues to grow. DID only makes it go that much slower.

A few months ago I suggested maybe going down to once a week and he encouraged me to stay at 2 times a week because he liked the progress we were making. So we are continuing at that.

I hate going to T but those closest to me keep pushing me to continue because they say they see the progress which I am not really aware of.

[piggy momma]

My T will only do once a week, except in an extreme emergency. If you need more than that, he will refer you because he doesn’t take difficult cases.

[ScarletPimpernel]

I saw my T once a week for 2 years, then every other week for a year. Now where anywhere from 1-2 times a month, but I can see her once a week if I need it.

[NP_Complete]

I started at once a week but I'd say I was asking for a 2nd session fairly often. After about half a year he told me we could go to twice a week. I didn't take him up on that at first, but after about a month I asked if that was still an option so we moved to twice a week. After I'd been seeing him for a year my life kind of blew up in a spectacular fashion (was the breaking news that night in a major metropolitan area) and I started seeing him three times a week. I've stayed at that frequency since then.

Making the move to twice a week really helped me with feeling more connected and I think it strengthened our relationship. It also enables us to work through more things so I don't fall into just relating what happened that week. Just ask if going to twice a week is something she would agree to.

[Waterloo12345]

I started at 1x then v quickly she suggested 2x cause was in crises. Then about 7 months in I suggested 3x for 3 months cause of work issues I wanted to deal with it as quick as poss e.g. go back to 1x a week after that. We're still in the 3x a week period and we review periodically to see how it is going. For me it's more than 3x as better as 1x a week and even more disproportionately better than 2x a week as I relax into it more, loose my defences, so more stuff comes out, we then have time to go deep, but still have time to complete and contain. There's been real progress since 3x a week.

[Salmon77]

Originally Posted by piggy momma

My T will only do once a week, except in an extreme emergency. If you need more than that, he will refer you because he doesn’t take difficult cases.

Some people just do better with more frequent contact, it doesn't mean they're difficult. I've never gotten the idea that my T thinks I'm a difficult case. Then again I'm not even sure what that means. People who have lots of crises? People in life-threatening situations?

[piggy momma]

Originally Posted by Salmon77

Some people just do better with more frequent contact, it doesn't mean they're difficult. I've never gotten the idea that my T thinks I'm a difficult case. Then again I'm not even sure what that means. People who have lots of crises? People in life-threatening situations?

Ya basically... I think his thinking is that if you need more than once a week you need more help than he’s in a position to be able to provide. I think if I was going through a massive genuine crisis he would see me twice a week on a very short term, but definitely not as a regular thing.

[ArtleyWilkins]

Generally, I saw my therapist every week to 10 days, give or take. I didn't have a set day and time each week which was best for me with my crazy schedule. If I needed an extra session, it was not a problem; either one of us might suggest it if it seemed indicated because of increased depression or some other stressor in my life. That wasn't something that was necessary all that often, but the flexibility to arrange appointments according to my need as opposed to some arbitrarily strict schedule worked really well for me. It made no sense to me to go in absolutely every week if it wasn't needed, but being able to go in more often during a crisis was a vital support.

[ChickenNoodleSoup]

Currently twice a week. Originally, I went once a week. After about 1.5 years, this Summer, my T was on vacation for 2.5 weeks. During that time, I started getting out of control, I was constantly anxious, had panic attacks, was generally in a really bad shape. Additionally, I shared with my T after he got back that I almost constantly thought about him during the week (not only when he's gone for a longer time, just between regular sessions). I missed him a lot and it was affecting me on top of the other issues I was already having.

My T suggested I see him twice a week after a session where I did nothing but cry and eventually went from sitting on the chair to sitting on the floor and later lying down. I'm not really sure which part made him suggest it. Whether it was mainly that I thought about him this much (this got a lot better as soon as we started twice a week), me not being well at all, or the fact that he saw me completely freaking out.

When I only had one session a week, I often found it to not be enough. I used to call my T almost every week to request extra time with him. I always wanted to ask for more sessions on a regular basis, but for some reason I did not feel it was my place or I was worried I'd feel rejected. Looking back I think I should have asked much earlier, I think my T would have handled it right.

[CharlieStarDust]

I usually see her every two weeks (due to finances - would love to see her weekly). When I'm in what she deems 'crisis,' we'll go to weekly for a short period (a month or two). When we were dealing with a particularly difficult subject, and I worried I'd destabilize, she suggested for that one week to meet twice, just to help contain it. Luckily, I remained in tact, and didn't need an extra session.

[Capacity]

At the end of the session I told him it was hard waiting a week to see him again and he suggested twice weekly. It has worked well thus far.

I would just tell your T what you told us here. That you find yourself doing better the weeks you see him/her and could you come in twice a week until you find things more manageable. There is no harm in asking. Good luck!

I did weekly (sometimes twice a week) for the first year, then every 2 weeks for a long time, i've been going weekly again since the end of july.

[Seelenna1982]

Originally Posted by zoiecat

I started once a week almost 2 years ago to get over a car accident. We started EMDR and I learned that many of my issues were related to all of my childhood trauma.

Due to the amount of crap we needed to work through I asked if it might be faster to go twice a week to spend one day on the accident and one on old traumas and he agreed. He knew I did not want to be in therapy forever.

Since then he diagnosed me with DID amoung other things and the list of stuff to work though continues to grow. DID only makes it go that much slower.

A few months ago I suggested maybe going down to once a week and he encouraged me to stay at 2 times a week because he liked the progress we were making. So we are continuing at that.

I hate going to T but those closest to me keep pushing me to continue because they say they see the progress which I am not really aware of.

I like the idea of this reasoning. Thank you for sharing. I think I have DID from lots of trauma in childhood. Starting this work and looking at it is all so new, I just don’t know how to handle it all between weeks. I’m shocked how much better I’ve felt on the few times I’ve gone back in the same week.

[Seelenna1982]

Originally Posted by NP_Complete

I started at once a week but I'd say I was asking for a 2nd session fairly often. After about half a year he told me we could go to twice a week. I didn't take him up on that at first, but after about a month I asked if that was still an option so we moved to twice a week. After I'd been seeing him for a year my life kind of blew up in a spectacular fashion (was the breaking news that night in a major metropolitan area) and I started seeing him three times a week. I've stayed at that frequency since then.

Making the move to twice a week really helped me with feeling more connected and I think it strengthened our relationship. It also enables us to work through more things so I don't fall into just relating what happened that week. Just ask if going to twice a week is something she would agree to.

This!!!! I struggle keeping the connection open when going once a week. It’s as if every session is my first and take me 35mins to overcome that and start properly talking. If I’ve ever gone in a second time, I tend to begin in a more relaxed place.
You’re brave for asking. I always look for some kind of urgent reason that might entitle me to ask but then almost never do.

[Seelenna1982]

Originally Posted by Capacity

At the end of the session I told him it was hard waiting a week to see him again and he suggested twice weekly. It has worked well thus far.

I would just tell your T what you told us here. That you find yourself doing better the weeks you see him/her and could you come in twice a week until you find things more manageable. There is no harm in asking. Good luck!

This is really helpful, thank you!!

[kecanoe]

My Ts have been fine with seeing me more than once a week. I think they may hesitate to suggest it because they don't want to seem to be drumming up business. Currently I see T1 twice a week, sometimes more and T3 once a week.