1. What is Psychotherapy?
Therapy, or psychotherapy, might be called counseling, but this does not fully capture what takes place in ongoing therapy. Certainly, counsel is provided. But, therapy is much more. In an ongoing therapeutic relationship, you and your therapist will work together to discover the nature and root cause of your problems. In regularly scheduled meetings you and your therapist will develop increasing awareness and understanding of your problems and how best to resolve them.
2. Why do people consider using psychotherapy?
Here are some reasons people consider therapy:
- They feel an overwhelming and prolonged sense of sadness and helplessness or they lack hope in their lives.
- Their emotions (anxiety, for example) make it hard for them to function from day to day.
- They are having trouble achieving their personal or professional goals because of fears, anger or other troubling feelings.
- Their actions or emotions are harmful to themselves or others. For instance, they may drink too much alcohol or become overly aggressive when angry.
- They feel "stuck" in some important part of their life and want to understand what is getting in their way.
3. How does therapy work?
By creating a safe, understanding environment, your therapist can help you find ways to become more open to yourself, even to parts of yourself that you have ignored or avoided. This allows you to acquire information about your needs and wants through more awareness of your feelings and thoughts. It is through this process that you can gain clarity about the problems you are addressing, whether they be depression, anxiety, relationship conflict, eating disorders, or something else. It is this deeper understanding, combined with practical, behavioral changes that often provide the relief you seek.
4. What does research show about the effectiveness of therapy?
Research suggests that therapy effectively decreases depression and anxiety and related symptoms: pain, fatigue and nausea are some examples. Psychotherapy has also been found to increase survival time for heart surgery and cancer patients, and it can have a positive effect on the body's immune system. Research increasingly supports the idea that emotional and physical health are very closely linked and that therapy can improve a person's overall health status.
5. How long does it take to feel better?
Usually people develop mental health problems when their biology and their environment combine to create behaviors and symptoms. You might view these symptoms or behaviors in terms of unhealthy patterns. Patterns in one's life are established for a reason and often in circumstances over which one had little control. Patterns are a set of responses to life stress that worked and all patterns were once adaptive.
The trouble comes when one carries a pattern into a different phase of life. Soon one sees that the pattern, in this new situation is "maladaptive." Long-standing patterns may take months, to more than a year to fully address. Situational stress may trigger a depression or an episode of anxiety and dealing with this one trigger may be accomplished in a relatively short amount of time, say, a few months. Other factors that influence treatment length are: your habitual coping skills, your social support system and the severity of your symptoms.
6. Will I need to take medication?
Depending on your symptoms and your willingness to take medication, I can make a recommendation to a qualified psychiatrist who will conduct a thorough evaluation and prescribe appropriate medicines - if warranted - to treat your symptoms. Often taking medication for depression or anxiety is a personal decision and one best made thoughtfully with your therapist.
Therapy, or psychotherapy, might be called counseling, but this does not fully capture what takes place in ongoing therapy. Certainly, counsel is provided. But, therapy is much more. In an ongoing therapeutic relationship, you and your therapist will work together to discover the nature and root cause of your problems. In regularly scheduled meetings you and your therapist will develop increasing awareness and understanding of your problems and how best to resolve them.
2. Why do people consider using psychotherapy?
Here are some reasons people consider therapy:
- They feel an overwhelming and prolonged sense of sadness and helplessness or they lack hope in their lives.
- Their emotions (anxiety, for example) make it hard for them to function from day to day.
- They are having trouble achieving their personal or professional goals because of fears, anger or other troubling feelings.
- Their actions or emotions are harmful to themselves or others. For instance, they may drink too much alcohol or become overly aggressive when angry.
- They feel "stuck" in some important part of their life and want to understand what is getting in their way.
3. How does therapy work?
By creating a safe, understanding environment, your therapist can help you find ways to become more open to yourself, even to parts of yourself that you have ignored or avoided. This allows you to acquire information about your needs and wants through more awareness of your feelings and thoughts. It is through this process that you can gain clarity about the problems you are addressing, whether they be depression, anxiety, relationship conflict, eating disorders, or something else. It is this deeper understanding, combined with practical, behavioral changes that often provide the relief you seek.
4. What does research show about the effectiveness of therapy?
Research suggests that therapy effectively decreases depression and anxiety and related symptoms: pain, fatigue and nausea are some examples. Psychotherapy has also been found to increase survival time for heart surgery and cancer patients, and it can have a positive effect on the body's immune system. Research increasingly supports the idea that emotional and physical health are very closely linked and that therapy can improve a person's overall health status.
5. How long does it take to feel better?
Usually people develop mental health problems when their biology and their environment combine to create behaviors and symptoms. You might view these symptoms or behaviors in terms of unhealthy patterns. Patterns in one's life are established for a reason and often in circumstances over which one had little control. Patterns are a set of responses to life stress that worked and all patterns were once adaptive.
The trouble comes when one carries a pattern into a different phase of life. Soon one sees that the pattern, in this new situation is "maladaptive." Long-standing patterns may take months, to more than a year to fully address. Situational stress may trigger a depression or an episode of anxiety and dealing with this one trigger may be accomplished in a relatively short amount of time, say, a few months. Other factors that influence treatment length are: your habitual coping skills, your social support system and the severity of your symptoms.
6. Will I need to take medication?
Depending on your symptoms and your willingness to take medication, I can make a recommendation to a qualified psychiatrist who will conduct a thorough evaluation and prescribe appropriate medicines - if warranted - to treat your symptoms. Often taking medication for depression or anxiety is a personal decision and one best made thoughtfully with your therapist.
Robin S. Haight, PsyD Licensed Clinical Psychologist
8618 Westwood Center Dr., Suite 430 Vienna, VA 22182 703-349-1161 drhaight@email.com
703-349-1161 ~ 8618 Westwood Center Drive ~ Vienna, Virginia 22182 ~ drhaight@email.com
FAQ's About Therapy
