Individual Therapy
Do you feel depressed or anxious more often than not? Are you confused about how to get unstuck in a relationship? Are you having trouble following-through on changes that would make your life better? Are you having questions about what to do next with your life? These – and many others – are the types of questions that are worked through in individual counseling sessions.
What is individual therapy?
The primary goal of individual therapy is to increase awareness of your thoughts, feelings and behaviors in order to manage stress, relationship difficulties and disheartening situations. Through this self-awareness you will be able to better break through what has been holding you back in order to set goals and make healthier decisions. This leads to living a more whole and rounded life.
Who is individual therapy for?
As counselors who witness the deep value of the counseling relationship every day, we are quite biased in our belief that individual therapy is a great support to have for just about everyone. Here are some of the issues that many of our clients work through during their time in therapy:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Transitions and Life Changes
- Crisis of Faith
- Self-confidence
- Difficulty controlling emotions
- Interpersonal conflicts
- Anger issues
- Financial stress
- Job and academic stress
- Overcoming codependency
- Chronic and acute traumatic experiences
- Working through difficult memories and life experiences
- Issues with sex and intimacy
What can I expect from individual therapy?
The most important part of counseling is the connection you develop with your therapist. The rapport that develops with your therapist should help you to feel comfortable and safe so that you can talk honestly and freely about what is most pressing to you. The more open and honest you are with your therapist the more likely it is that treatment will be effective.
Your individual therapy sessions typically consist of meeting weekly with your therapist for 50-60 minutes. During the first few sessions you are developing goals with your therapist related to the issues that you want to overcome. As you progress with your goals through several weeks you and your therapist will likely begin to have conversations about seeing each other on a less frequent basis, usually 1-2 times per month. Some clients come to therapy for a few months or a few years, depending on the extent of the issues they are facing and their desire to either continue or end the therapy process. It will be up to you and your therapist to determine how long treatment lasts.
If you would like to dive deeper into what the individual therapy process looks like you can check this article out.