Therapy Questions/Homework

Does your therapist ever give you homework?

I've seen her for ONE session. Aka: TODAY. She's given me homework, and although it seems straightforward, I don't know how to answer them.

1) What do I want out of counselling with her?
2) What are my general impressions of therapy altogether?

Okay, so her "speciality" is CBT. I could probably use that, I just don't *like* the idea. I want to remain sane throughout the rest of my academic career. I want to be better in the future than I am right now.

My general impression of therapy: I've had 4 therapists, in 3 years. The longest time I've gone consecutively with one is 8 months. (Not my choice, most were doing internships).

My head hurts. I don't know what to say. Heck, I dont even really want counselling right now. But I know I need it, just to keep myself sane because I dont talk about my issues with others as often.

I should fix myself "now" while I get free counselling, rather than later when I have to pay for it, right?

I don't know. *shrugs and sighs*

1) What do I want out of counselling?

I want to remain sane throughout the rest of my academic career.
I want to be better in the future than I am right now.

2) What are my general impressions of therapy altogether?

CBT, I just don't *like* the idea.

Perhaps you already answered?

Bah. Is it really that simple? I thought she wanted "therapy objectives"... like I want to solve X, Y, and Z. And that she wanted me to tell her about my past therapy experiences (she doesnt get access to any past notes whatsoever from past therapists).

Is it really that simple? Bah, I'm worrying for nothing?

I hate homework. Loathe it. Perhaps she needs to know that too

heh - dunno! I've never been able to answer those =) i just knew i needed to be there.
luck!

I would guess that she wants treatment targets - but I guess it is hard to know for sure.

You kind of did provide an answer here. Could you start with that and see how she finds that? If she starts to try and operationalize it / manipulate it into a form she feels she can deal with then could you have a back-up list of things to work on to pull out in that kind of situation?

It would just be about coaxing what you have said already into a form she might find more manageable...

For example: It sounds like you are pretty focused on IMPROVING your functioning (so don't want anything regressive). CBT is pretty good for being on board with that :-) So... To build on (reinforce and elaborate) on your strengths rather than trying to pull apart your defenses. What are the things that you struggle the most with now that you would like to improve on? E.g., you said you want to be 'better in the future than I am right now' - so if you look at the things you want to be able to do but don't feel you can do now then that might be a place to start.

It sounds like maybe some of your past clinicians weren't so CBT focused? That might have been what she was getting at with asking about your past experiences...

This thread made me laugh at myself. My first thought was... My T rarely gives me homework and at the beginning of therapy she never asked me what my goals for therapy were.

Then I realized.... that's because I beat her to the punch. I was soooo frustrated after our first 3 meetings and wasn't sure if she was the right T for me. So I sent her an email outlining what I thought my family's issues were, what I wanted to gain from therapy, what skills I was looking for in a therapist, and asked if these issues fell within her area of expertise and scope of practice. If not, I would appreciate any referral suggestions she might have. LOL! I just pulled this first email...I was so business...basically let's cut the crap lady...am I in the right place or not. LOL.

I never imagined how difficult establishing and maintaining a workable relationship with a therapist could be. At this point I would not want to start the whole process over again. I give you a lot of credit for doing this 4 times.

You mentioned that your previous T's were doing internships. Is this T doing an internship too? Are you in a situation that forces you to continue to see T's in training?

Either way... I think therapy is about what you want. Your goals are just that, your goals. They can be as detailed as you want or as open ended as you want. If I were to sit down and write goals today, they would be much more open ended.

It looks like you've got a good start on this homework assignment. If you want to throw in some therapy objectives do it.

It's ok ((((((((((((( Christine ))))))))))))))))) I don't think your T is expecting you to write an essay or thesis on these questions just yet!

The first question is a pretty standard getting-to-know-you type question, as in, why are you here?

And the second question is to find out your views and experiences you have had already. Might be trying to find out what work she needs to undo!

Good luck!

I think you answered in that you know you need support and want that because you don't talk to others "enough" but you don't particularly want "therapy" because of its limitations in time (therapists always being temporary).

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pegasus said:
Might be trying to find out what work she needs to undo!

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That is too funny!

Christine,
If this is the case, then I would view her homework assignment as a great positive way to start your new therapeutic relationship.

Christina, maybe you could just view these questions as conversation prompts rather than homework. I think the word "homework" can be offputting sometimes! Lots of therapists start off by wanting to discuss the client's goals, so these questions let you know in advance that she wants to do this, so when she brings these questions up in session, you've thought about them and don't sit there surprised and drawing a blank. After you get further into therapy, hopefully she will not feel the need to give you preparatory questions for the next time, and will let you choose which topics are most important to you to discuss each time. But to start out, this actually sounds very useful.

I have a T who has an orientation toward the CBT styles.
I've never been given homework, but I think it depends on the person and their problems. Therapy of any kind should be individualized.

My thoughts are that if you don't feel like answering the homework questions, or you are confused, I'd tell her that at your next appointment. It sounds like the T's from your past, and especially the trainees, were not that helpful.
When you are dealing with free services, it's very difficult to get good services sometimes.

I'm always open and straightforward with my T when/if I don't like or don't understand something. Maybe you should try doing that?

my t gives me homework each week... he does this because i tend to be able to express my self in writing better then verbally... he figured this out really early on in t.. he use to have me read it to him until he realized that i was editing myself... ... lyn

Sounds like CBT will help you (as you tend to "should" on yourself.)

Homework or just a questionaire? Sometimes rather than spend precious session time on basic questions, it's given in paper form.

Don't think too hard into those questions.

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Does your therapist ever give you homework?

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Nope! However, these seem like good questions to peruse.

PS I am the teacher. He is the therapist. LOL

I've seen a number of CBT therapists in my time. I've also done a number of graduate courses that are part of the clinical psychology training program - where most of that was focused on training CBT therapists.

One way to think of it would be to consider what you think a `well you' would look like and compare that to what you think you look like now. To get some kind of grip on the things you would like to be able to do that you don't feel that you are able to do now. Then the thought is that the work will consist in trying to bridge that gap.

There could be all kinds of specific things. Here are some (just for ideas - I know I find it most helpful to see examples of things and then to modify them into things that make sense for me).

- There could be specific instances when anxiety is high - and you would like to know how to reduce your anxiety in those circumstances.
- There could be situations when you aren't as assertive as you feel you would like to be so you would like to learn how to be more appropriately assertive.
- There could be specific things that you think would be good for you (e.g., having regular exercise, eating healthier etc) that you are finding it hard to do regularly.

And so on...

The CBT approach is (for the most part) an educational one. Pick a treatment target and the therapist will typically have a whole 'educational bundle' of techniques to teach you and help you employ so that you can effect the changes that you want to effect. Different treatment goals will give you a different package of educational techniques. For example, the techniques to help a person deal with compulsive thoughts / ruminations are a little different from the techniques to help a person deal with feeling depressed. I'd say that your therapist is trying to get a grip on what you would like to work on so that she can figure out and put together a list of techniques to teach you / help you effect the changes that you most want to effect in your life.

Homework is common for the CBT approach. The basic idea... Is that the CBT treatment approach is an eclectic one where what is distinctive about it is that it is a collection of whatever techniques have been empirically shown to be most effective for effecting the relevant changes for the relevant treatment target. One of the problems for therapy is how well the skills taught in a therapy context generalize such that the person can employ them outside the therapy context. Homework is one way of trying to blur the boundary between 'in therapy' and 'outside therapy in the real world'. While it is useful to practice the skills and techniques in the comparatively safe therapy setting in the first instance I'd get used to homework because as you work on your treatment targets your therapist will probably provide homework for you to practice the skills that she teaches you outside therapy in the real world and then to report back to her on how it went. That way you can both make sure that she is in fact being helpful to you with respect to you effecting the changes in your life (outside therapy) that you want to effect.

I wouldn't worry too much if you have some difficulty with coming up with treatment targets, though. If you struggle with this then that makes that the first treatment target to be dealt with next session :-)