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Here are examples of the types of problems and difficulties you may experience that psychotherapy has been shown
to help resolve:
- depression; feelings of sadness, isolation or emptiness
- anxiety: tension, exhaustion,
worry, compulsions
- disruptive patterns in eating or sleeping, neglectful or injurous selfcare
- arguments,
impulsive angry outbursts, difficulty expressing emotions
- disruptive behaviors in school,
- parenting stratagies
Do I have to have goals or have a plan to know I'm getting better?
Sometimes therapy goes along slowly and it takes time to develop what your goals are, sometimes people know exactly
what they want for themselves but can't seem to do it alone or need another person to see what is missing so they don't keep
struggling with the same pattern.
At times, therapy can be very direct and explicit. Other times it can feel like it meanders but this is important
time too. Especially with children and play therapy. The time spent in self-exploration and expression with a listening, caring
and responsive therapist can be curative.
Do I have to commit to weekly therapy for a long time, what if i think its not working?
You are
never under obligation to continue therapy. You may be required to give adequate notice when you need to reschedule an appointment
or stop therapy. Talk to your therapist about notification requirements. Anything you think or feel is okay to bring
up in therapy. Talk to your thrapist about confidentiality and your rights to privacy. You can talk about what feels
uncomfortable and if you are disapointed. Therapy is not magic and no one can promise you what it will feel like or how quickly
or slowly it will go. Any thoughts you have about feeling disappointed or that something your therapist has done or said feels
like it has impacted you in a negative way is something a good therapist will want to know. It is helpful to a therapist to
know your perceptions for many reasons. Either to help clarify what occured, to validate that saying your perception is important and
to let the therapist know how you experienced the session. The therapist may ask you to be responsible for your feelings but
also can take responsibility for their part in how things are going. You may decide you have cleared the air and want to continue
or you may feel the therapist is not a good match. There are things a therapist should never do and taking
advantage of you in any way is one of them. If you feel you have been taken advantage of by a therpist there are people you
can talk to decide if and/or what you want to do about it. The last page of this website has contact iformation. On that
page you will find iformation to connect with The American Psychological Association they can assist you if you believe a
psychologist has done something wrong. The State of Florida also cares about the saftey of therapy and can asssit you in the
event you have been treated in a way that is against regulations.
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What kinds of things do therapists do?
Therapy can involve talking about the problems you are experiencing so that another person skilled in listening and understanding
problems can help you to better understand your problems. Sometimes you generate stratagies to try out and then meet again
to see how you new approach to the problem worked.
Sometimes therapy can involve feeling emotions, sharing the emotions, and or processing the emotions. Sometimes a therapist
can help you to feel the emotion as you experienced it in a vivid and complete way so that rather then just talking about
an experience you can reprocess it emotionally. This can free up the impact an event has had so that you can process new situations
in new ways.
This means sometimes therapy can be surprising and emotionful and may feel unusual if you have not been feeling emotions
as directly and strongly. Therapy should feel safe and anything you experience can be discussed with your therapist so you
feel and know you are taking care of yourself along with your therapist and not that therapy is happening to you even
if you are surprised by your own emotions.
For any questions or to schedule an appointment please e-mail us at:
jeanmulloyphd@verizon.net
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