How To Get The Most Out of Therapy and Make Therapy Short Term. (Part I of III parts)
When people first come for help they are uncertain as to how to get the most from counseling; in addition
they are upset, angry and confused. It’s very understandable that peoples’ feelings are so strong that it’s hard for them to “hear” how they can best get help. I’ve developed an easy self rating evaluation to give folks guidelines to follow. When I think it is helpful and appropriate, at the end of a session, I ask folks to evaluate themselves to see if their way of approaching counseling was effective.
In the next three blogs I will give four simple guidelines that will help therapy move forward most quickly and effectively
Note about how to read this blog series
I have broken this down to one or two guidelines per blog so that people can have a chance to think about each of these guidelines in small bite size pieces. The last blog will put this all together when I share my form with all four guidelines. If you are the type of person that wants to get to the bottom line go directly to my third blog and the form is there. If you want to understand why I have set each guideline and to think about it you would be best served to read all three blogs.
Below is the first guideline and an explanation of why this guideline is important to the success of counseling.
- Keep answers and comments short.
Explanation:
Often time’s people will dominate the conversation or each person will take turns “lecturing” to the other. If there is not a give and take between couples, then the quiet person will turn their ears off and stop listening. The other person may be just waiting for their turn to speak to present their case and not be listening at all to what is being said. In counseling, as in conversations outside of counseling, short is better than long. More conversation and less lecturing, is a more effective technique for getting your partner to communicate with you in a positive way.
In my next blog I will give two more guidelines for having a successful therapy session.