2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
Many people already at the first session are interested in the question: "How many sessions with a psychotherapist will be needed?" The answer depends on two factors:
1. The structure of the organization of the psyche of the individual (a psychotherapist will need 1-2 sessions for a general analysis of mental processes and the state of a person)
2. The required level of changes - for superficial changes, 5-10-20 sessions are enough, for deeper and more holistic ones 2-7-15 years of therapy will be needed
A prerequisite for therapy is 1 session per week. The frequency of meetings cannot be less - in this case, there is no point in psychotherapy, and it is supportive and does not imply strong changes. Not all people can stand a visit to a therapist more than 1 time a week because of hard work on themselves.
In some cases, if a person has one point problem, perhaps one session will be enough, in which the therapist will help him to sort everything out, clearly see the full picture of the problem and make an independent thoughtful decision based on the answers received. If deeper changes are needed, the psychotherapy process can take from 2 to 15 years (it all depends on the client's breakdowns and the desired interruptions in therapy).
What does it mean "depends on the structure of the psyche of the individual"? The answer to this question is hidden in the levels of personality organization - neurosis, psychosis and border guard.
The neurotic makeup of the personality is characteristic of most people and is conventionally considered the healthiest (an analogy can be drawn with the concept of "health continuum"). Accordingly, it is easier for a neurotic to lead to changes; 5-10-20 sessions will be enough to solve the problem. If a person wants further growth and development, the duration of therapy sessions depends solely on him.
For the borderline structure of a person's organization, psychotic attacks are characteristic, the personality in most cases is healthy, but more close to a neurotic disposition. It is an order of magnitude more difficult to change a person with a borderline structure; it may take at least a year (50 sessions) to solve even the simplest problems. If the client does not break down, therapy can last 3-5 years. In the event of breakdowns, temporary withdrawal from psychotherapy and return, a change of therapists, an inevitable psychological rollback occurs (for example, an ascent of five steps in improvement and a return to psychotherapy on the second step).
A person with a psychotic personality organization is conventionally considered the most sick. In this case, there is a possibility that it will never change, and maintenance therapy will be needed throughout life (at least once every two weeks).
Gestalt therapy involves 1 session per week. More often it is possible only in a person's crisis state and with a high level of anxiety (the number of sessions can be increased to 2). However, twice a week is a rather serious setting that not everyone can withstand, so the psychotherapist always analyzes the client's condition and capabilities before finalizing the therapy schedule.
Supporting format - once every two weeks. However, in this case, there will be no profound changes. Why? After the session, the psyche continues to work and answers those questions that were not fully resolved or did not receive answers. Quite often, during a session, the client simply does not know how to answer, but within a week, at a subconscious level, all the answers are worked through, perhaps something is remembered and rises from the depths of consciousness, the general situation becomes clearer. The next session pushes the person towards deeper analysis. If two weeks pass, the layer of material raised from the depths of consciousness settles. Accordingly, in this case, therapy that is aimed at change is impossible, only slight and superficial changes occur. A similar version of psychotherapy is considered for people with a psychotic level of personality organization or those who have undergone the main part of therapy (the middle part has been worked out, no further deep changes are needed, only certain processes need to be worked out to close the psyche and independent life of the client).
How long does a full course of psychotherapy last? It is rather difficult to answer this question exactly. For more or less healthy people - 5-10-20 sessions. However, a person can go deeper, in which case the client independently determines the duration of the course, focusing on his desires for growth and development. Thus, in Gestalt therapy, the answer to this question always depends on the person. Orthodox psychoanalysis (in particular, the well-known psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg), with a mild case of personality organization, allows the optimal duration of psychotherapy to be 7-11 years.
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