Author: Kamna Chibber, Head of Department, Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare
Working with your therapist on different aspects of yourself and your life is a process that requires commitment and investment of your time. It can bring to the fore difficult issues as you work towards building skills and coping mechanisms while resolving difficult spaces of your life. It is important to ensure that the therapy process is benefiting you and there are some things you can keep in mind to ensure the same.
1. How is the rapport?
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Critical to your work in therapy is the rapport you share with your therapist. For the therapy to provide you with substantial benefits, it is important to ensure that you share a good rapport with your therapist and experience comfort in maintaining openness in discussing diverse issues.
2. Are your questions being answered?
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As you enter therapy and work with your therapist, you are likely to have questions arise in your mind, both about what you are trying to achieve as well as the process. It is important that you voice these questions and also be cognizant of whether these are being responded to or not. Having your questions answered is important to feel involved and engaged.
3. Do you feel judged?
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If the interactions with your therapist are leaving you feeling judged or scrutinized, it is important to assess whether you are truly benefiting from the therapy. To be able to benefit from your sessions, your ability to share without experiencing guilt or that you would be judged by your therapist is very important. This needs to be a space where you can freely share and discuss.
4. Whose goals are being met?
Therapy is no doubt a collaborative endeavour. However, it is important to assess whose goals are being worked towards and met in the process. For you to benefit from your therapy, it is crucial that you determine the goals of the therapy and that shapes the structure and flow of the
sessions. Inputs from your therapist will always be helpful but you must know and feel that you are steering the process.
5. Do you feel criticized in sessions?
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It is imperative that your therapist be able to communicate with you about the gaps that are seen in a constructive manner. To foster reflection and introspection and facilitate skill building it is important that a therapist be seen as an ally and not as someone who is difficult, critical or harsh.
Therapy is a longitudinal process and requires a patient to work in tandem with a therapist with whom they can communicate and share things with ease. Be aware of your therapist’s training and professional certifications to know and understand the type of therapy they provide. It is further important to be mindful of the benefits you are accruing in therapy by engaging in a continual process of assessing how the progress has been, both at an individual level as well as with your therapist, to ensure that course correction if required, can be enacted at any stage of the process.
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