Common Queries

Here are the answers to some of the common questions on therapy

1. What is therapy/psychotherapy?

Often, when people struggle with severe emotional pain or realize that they can't manage certain issues by themselves and begin to seek help, they will hear the term 'psychotherapy'. Psychotherapy (sometimes just called 'therapy') is a way to help people with a broad variety of emotional difficulties, stress, and mental health issues. Psychotherapy can help eliminate or control troubling symptoms so a person can function better, increase their wellbeing and re-connect with their lives, values and true self. Problems helped by psychotherapy include difficulties coping with daily life and stressors, adjustments to changes, the impact of trauma, medical illness, loss, and specific mental disorders. There are many different types of psychotherapy and some types may work better with certain problems or issues. Psychotherapy may be used in combination with medication or other therapies.

At Focused Care Therapy, all of our therapists hold a master degree is Clinical Social Work and are licensed with the state to practice psychotherapy.

2. Does it actually work?

Research shows that most people who receive psychotherapy experience symptom relief and are better able to function in their lives. About 75 percent of people who enter psychotherapy show some benefit from it. Psychotherapy has been shown to improve emotions and behaviors and to be linked with positive changes in the brain and body. The benefits also include fewer sick days, less disability, fewer medical problems, and increased work satisfaction.

With the use of brain imaging techniques, researchers have been able to see changes in the brain after a person has undergone psychotherapy. Numerous studies have identified brain changes in people with mental illness (including depression, panic disorder, PTSD and other conditions) as a result of undergoing psychotherapy. In most cases the brain changes resulting from psychotherapy were similar to changes resulting from medication.

To help get the most out of psychotherapy, approach the therapy as a collaborative effort, be open and honest, and follow your agreed upon plan for treatment. Follow through with any assignments between sessions, such as writing in a journal or practicing what you’ve talked about.

3. Should I see a psychiatrist or a therapist?

Most people see a therapist for the first time with regards to various issues. Some issues will be resolved just by psychotherapy, however if medical intervention may be helpful and if a person is interested, a therapist can help them make a connection to a psychiatrist (a medical doctors who prescribes medication) and psychologist for any specific testing. (The reverse is true as well, psychiatrists and primary care physicians will often refer clients to psychotherapy). Research shows medication and psychotherapy combined gives best results for some conditions. Our practice is solely therapy providers, but we can connect clients with psychiatrists in the community.

There is significant stigma in our society related to seeking mental health treatment and taking psychotropic drugs (even though a lot of those psychotropics have fewer side effects than some more harmful non psychotropics). If you feel bad about considering a medicine for mental health, or even if you just feel alone in what you are experiencing but are not considering medication, see if this video might help you feel better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG6HZMMDEYA

4. Shouldn't I just handle this on my own?

Absolutely not! Human beings naturally use all the internal and external resources they can to resolve problems, but when we are under severe stress our brain loses its full capacity to think and make connections. We forget to think of our positives and our strengths, we lose sight of our values and disconnect from the good things life does have to offer. Intense emotional feelings can fog over our logical thinking and decision making capacity. Our brains are incredibly powerful; but sometimes our incredibly powerful brains work in ways that are incredibly unhelpful. In those situations its is best to take a step back and have a skilled and trained person help you to get through.

Remember those times when your friend or partner is better at finding your lost keys (or something similar)? It is because while you are looking for the keys you are also hurrying to get to work on time, stressing about making yourself late, imaging the worst-case-scenario when you do get to work, mentally beating yourself up for being disorganized, remembering all the other times you lost something etc, and your friend/parter is just focused on finding the keys. I bet, if you're reading this, you have been 'looking for the keys' for long enough. All of the things you have tried haven't worked (or they haven't worked for long), and you are recognizing it's time to try something new.

Yes, we are all amazing human beings and some times when things are too much, don't forget consider a great resource to help - Psychotherapy! We as therapists often seeks therapy services to resolve our issues too. So let's throw away the stigma and go seek the help of a therapist.

5. May be I can get advice from my friends and family instead?

Connecting with friend and/or family is always important. Some therapeutic work also involves strengthening existing bonds and forming new connections and relationships. But seeking advice from friends and family as a form of treatment is not a good solution. Our relationships with friends and family create biases and blindspots and their motivation and needs may affect their responses. Our informal relationships will hinder our objectivity, which is one of the reasons therapists are not allowed to provide therapy for their friends or family. Often, relying on family and friends to resolve our mental health issues will create more problems. We would not go to our friends or families to treat that broken bone or that skin rash, right? The same applies with our minds too. Advice is rarely the best solution for this type of problem. Instead, therapists will empower you to make the right decisions- because you are the one who knows your situation the the best and you are one with the best solution to that problem, even if you don't see it now. Therapists are professionally trained to help you explore and discuss your difficulties, understand the way your mind works, and develop solutions to your particular problems. They have expertise in helping you express and understand your thoughts and feelings, be vulnerable and share previously unspoken truths by focusing entirely on you without bringing their own needs into the mix.

6. I realize I need therapy but what should I expect?

After you make an appointment with the therapist, the first session is the assessment. In the assessment, the therapist will work with you to understand what issues are affecting you, get an overall understanding of the situation and identify immediate needs to address. The initial session will be to get to know you more and build a relationship with you so you will feel comfortable, confident and and ready to talk about your personal matters. Session lengths and timing can vary but is usually once a week for around 45 minutes to an hour. As therapy progresses, we will dive into deeper issues and start seeing the real changes and effects of the therapy. After the treatment goals are met, then we will move towards discharge and the final sessions will focus on the discharge planning and ending of therapy.

Do not hesitate to start therapy thinking of things like: What will I say? Who is going to talk first? What is going to happen if I say that? etc. It's all normal to have those anxious thoughts in your mind for the first time and the best person to answer all those questions is your therapist. So just jump in and you will be fine.

7. How long will it take for the therapy to work?

At Focused Care Therapy, we use evidence based therapy models. This means we match well-researched interventions with clinical experience, client preferences, and culture to guide and inform the delivery of treatments and services. For most of the cases the treatment goals will be achieved within 24 sessions. Usually, you will start seeing changes and start to feel better toward the middle of the therapy which will be around 12th session. Depending on the issues, there are short term therapies to which will finish in 8 to 10 sessions. At our practice we recognize the busy lives our clients lead; our goal is to provide effective and efficient therapy to address your concerns and get you back to your life.