Starting therapy is a courageous and profound first step in your personal development. However, just like any other new experience in life, your first therapy session may be characterized by persistent worries regarding how to get the most out of therapy sessions.
While feelings like this are completely normal, it’s important to remember that mental well-being is a lifelong journey, and you won’t be able to untangle all your psychological distress in one session. That said, there are several strategies you can implement in therapeutic settings that can earn you valuable returns on your personal investment and give you the best chance of success.
Here are seven tips to hit the ground running and make the most out of your sessions.
1. Track Your Mental Health Progress
This first tip is one of the most important: be sure to diligently track your progress. Spend time taking notes regarding what’s working for you — or what isn’t. By mindfully tracking your progress, it becomes easier to pinpoint things that haven’t been resonating with you in the way you’d hoped. You can also ask your therapist to schedule regular check-ins to address what needs improvement.
Strategies to help track your mental health progress include:
- System-specific tracking: This offers a standardized measurement of the intensity of your symptoms, and is recommended to be taken monthly.
- Therapeutic goal documentation: Establish goals and be specific about the changes that you want to see.
- Behavioral patterns: Changes in energy, coping mechanisms, physical activity, or sleep can be indications of your mental health.
- Journal prompt: Asking the same questions daily, weekly, or monthly — such as what emotional struggles did I experience and how did I respond to them? — can help you mindfully track your progress.
Tracking your progress can also be a great opportunity to hold your therapist accountable, allowing them to shift their techniques and tailor their approach to best support you and your mental health needs. Everybody’s different, and as such, everybody responds to different care methods.
2. Encourage Tough Questions
In therapy, it’s important to ask your therapist questions that clarify their approach, and it’s equally important to encourage your therapist to ask you tough questions. Productive questions to ask yourself that can inspire significant reflection include:
- Am I putting in the work?
- What problems am I still avoiding?
- Am I being honest with my therapist?
- What tools have I been given that I am not implementing?
- How does my progress compare to my goals?
- Is this therapist working?
The next step is fostering an environment where your therapist is comfortable asking you tough questions. Feeling confident enough to answer your therapist’s tough questions will help you get the most out of your sessions. Some great questions your therapist should be asking you include:
- How do you feel about your progress toward your therapy goals?
- Do you think these healthy coping skills for stress are working for you?
- What tools have we discussed that you were resistant to try?
- Do you feel comfortable trying new approaches or therapeutic techniques?
Welcoming therapy as a space for answering — and asking — tough questions can be reassuring. You’ll gain valuable insight into your relationship with your therapist, inviting feedback and letting their insights guide you so you can get an idea of what you’ve gained from the sessions.
Related: Psychiatrist vs. Therapist vs. Counselor
3. Address Difficult Mental Health Topics
Having to address difficult topics is never easy, especially when it’s about your life and past events. One of the benefits of therapy is to provide professional guidance and support while you’re reliving traumatic experiences. They can stop you if discussing these topics become too difficult, and begin the next session with a fresh start while you reflect on your reaction.
If recalling traumatic moments becomes too triggering, they can also walk you through different techniques to recontextualize the memories without reacting emotionally. Trying to discuss difficult emotions and situations is understandably something you may want to avoid — but that’s not why you’re in therapy. It’s critically important to your mental health to address these topics, especially since a professional is there to support you through it.
4. Set Therapy Goals
In life, goals are ubiquitous as a strategy to track progress and achievements. However, people often forget this in the context of therapy and fail to set goals.
Therapeutic goal setting and tracking is important and creates a clear path on your mental health journey. An example of therapy goals include:
- Emotional goals: You may want to work on being less reactive, giving yourself space when you’re angry, or learning to calm your anxiety when you’re triggered by a thought or situation.
- Personal goals: These goals may include things like reading more frequently, applying to a job you want, trying out a new hobby, or improving your daily routines. Personal goals can be set in your therapy sessions, and it’s important to have someone that can keep you accountable and track your progress to support your emotional and personal growth.
- Familial and friendship goals: Creating different goals for your interpersonal relationships can have a profound impact on your mood and overall psychological well-being. One benefit of achieving friendship and familial goals is that it paves the way for open and honest conversations, provides the space for you to set boundaries, and working through instinctive reactions you may have when they upset you or annoy you.
Related: Exploring Different Types of Therapy
5. Actively Apply Your Therapeutic Tools
Therapy is a tool that offers great results when they’re actively and consistently practiced. Saying with confidence that you’re putting in the emotional work to implement the tips and strategies that your therapist recommended is empowering, and any shortcomings can help you build a plan for what you want to work on in upcoming sessions. These are all important aspects of “doing the work” and can help you find success — even if it’s slower than you anticipated.
6. Be Honest With Yourself and Your Therapist
When you are honest with your therapist, you’re giving them the opportunity to learn more about your needs and how to better support you. If you start to hide things from your therapist, or omit certain details that you feel embarrassed about, you might not be getting the most out of therapy.
In the context of therapy, the work you put in often dictates the results you get out of it. This is why honesty — as scary as it can be — is vital to getting the best care.
Related: Psychiatrist vs. Therapist
7. Recognize When It’s Time To Change Therapists
If you feel like you’ve tried everything but the therapy process still isn’t healing you in the way you’d like, it might be time to change therapists. Understanding when to call it quits will benefit you in the long run, because the sooner you find the right therapist for you, the sooner you can heal.
Even though changing therapists seems scary, it’s critical to remember that they’re professionals. A good therapist will understand that not every client will align with their therapeutic process, and they won’t be upset if you provide them honest feedback and reasons for ending the therapeutic relationship. After all, their job is to help you find the support that works best for you.
How Neuro Wellness Spa Can Help You Get the Most Out of Therapy
Neuro Wellness Spa offers in-person and online therapy with licensed therapists. Our goal-oriented therapy style focuses on strategies to improve your health goals, and provides a framework for the tangible steps you can take to achieve them.
We’re also in-network with most major commercial health insurance policies and have appointments available in days, not weeks. Our care team takes pride in offering sessions tailored to your unique needs and objectives – whether you need individual talk therapy, psychiatric medication management with a psychiatrist, or TMS therapy.
If you want to make the most out of your therapy sessions, call Neuro Wellness Spa today to begin your therapeutic success story.