The "plateau Effect" Or When Psychotherapy "no Longer" Works

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

For a long time you decided to enter psychotherapy, studied the most suitable types and directions, carefully chose an experienced and qualified psychotherapist? The long-awaited meeting took place, everything went well and did the first meetings even bring a feeling of satisfaction, efficiency, prospects and the correctness of the choice made?

But suddenly, at some point, you began to understand that psychotherapy does not justify the expectations placed on it, the meetings began to be "about nothing", the symptom ceased to be corrected, and even there was a feeling that the therapy was not working, you were marking time and it was all in vain …

How can this be? Where to run and what to do?

Indeed, in situations where the client has not yet begun to express his feelings openly, he often thinks that he was mistaken in the method or specialist, decides to find another, and often the situation repeats itself. Therefore, I propose not to rush to conclusions, but to figure out what is happening)

Let me recommend - "Plateau Effect"

A psychophysiological pun, characterized by a period of complete calm, no matter what efforts … His formula is "after every success comes a period of stagnation."

He is familiar to many doctors (effective treatment begins to underperform), businessmen (anti-crisis measures cause stagnation), teachers (despite constant repetitions, the assimilation of material and productivity decreases), athletes (intensive training does not give more results) and people of other professions.

From a psychological point of view, this effect can be viewed as adaptation and the appropriation of a certain quality as a norm. These criteria are fundamental, because in the future, when a crisis situation arises, the plateau effect will be a push-off point. We will no longer compare our state of "here and now" with what was before working on ourselves, but with what was developed and appropriated afterwards as a norm (the last plateau).

I will try to draw a more understandable analogy with one of the most common - the "dietary" plateau.

When a person decides to lose weight, he changes his lifestyle, diet, adds part of physical activity, and at first the process goes very confidently.

Excess fluid is the first to leave and we begin to lose weight relatively quickly.

After a little slower, but still effectively, we get rid of superficial fat deposits.

But then the time comes and we find that the weight remains unchanged for a long time.

Some people believe that "losing weight" makes mistakes and does something wrong. But no. Everything is so and everything is true, simple the body has adapted to this load and lifestyle, starting to perceive them as normal … After the stage of the struggle, he restored his metabolism and all the procedures carried out begin to work to maintain the status quo.

Now let's look at a similar chain in psychotherapy.

First, working with a specialist, we receive a kind of diagnosis, explanations regarding the nature of our symptom, prognosis and correctional plan - anxiety goes down … Since most of the symptoms are based on anxiety, our condition improves. The unconditional acceptance and support of an authority figure gives confidence and motivate.

After that, we get acquainted with certain algorithms of work, techniques for alleviating emotional experiences, we begin to understand ourselves and our actions more, both effective and not very. We mastering the instrument and we get the opportunity to change the situation by discussing and expressing our experiences with a psychotherapist.

For a long time, while our symptom was accumulating, anxiety, confusion and hopelessness increased in direct proportion to the symptom. Now the situation has taken on completely different colors and we ourselves, without realizing it, having not yet had time to take any decisive actions, are already in a completely different, more comfortable, psychological state. Life has entered a certain rut when everything is more or less clear, disturbing questions have found their answers and past crises are experienced with less intensity.

What's wrong here?

Our psyche and organism understood and accepted the changes, adjusted to them and now work according to new rules. All our actions to work on ourselves only continue to hold this intermediate result. but if the goal is achieved, everyone is happy … As I wrote above, sometimes reducing anxiety is therapeutic in its own right.

If the losing weight wants more, and the client in psychotherapy has not completely got rid of the symptom, we need to move on to a new stage of work.

Losing weight will increase physical activity, protein and fiber intake, connect an anti-stress program and even add "loading" days for a shake-up. It will give the body a signal that this is not the end and the work must continue with greater intensity.

The client in psychotherapy is similar or begins to apply new knowledge in practice (when we moving from conversation to action, we create more and more new situations of challenges that take us out of the status of a plateau, stagnation) or, having established a trusting relationship with a psychotherapist, moves to the level working out deeper trauma.

Thus, as soon as each new stage reaches a plateau point, we move to a new level of working out ourselves, be it physically or psychologically. … Each time we feel that psychotherapy stands still, it means that we are faced with a choice - to accept what has been achieved as a norm and work to maintain the effect, or continue therapy, moving to a new level of "complexity" … One of the ideas that the author of the book about the plateau Bob Sullivan translates sounds something like this: "If we perceived a state of crisis or a problem as a period of a plateau, it would give us completely different motivation and different solutions for a successful exit from."

Therefore, in the case when, after a successful start, psychotherapy stopped working, but the symptom remained, I recommend discussing this with a psychotherapist, identifying the main points of the dynamics of therapy, from the beginning to the present moment. This is many times more effective and reliable, since the transition from one therapist to another only starts this circle from the beginning, until the next plateau.

Be healthy;)