Psychotherapy is a process that involves some level of personal change. Thus, therapy requires your active effort and participation in this process. It is not a procedure or something your clinician does to fix your symptoms or underlying problems. For therapy to be most effective, you will need to work on things discussed during sessions while you are not in sessions.
Psychotherapy can have benefits and risks. Since therapy often involves discussing unpleasant aspects of your life, you may experience uncomfortable feelings like sadness, guilt, anger, frustration, loneliness, and helplessness. Conversely, psychotherapy has also been shown to have many benefits. Therapy often leads to better relationships, solutions to specific problems, and significant reductions in feelings of distress. But there are no guarantees of what you will experience because everyone is different.
Because therapy approaches vary depending on the particular difficulties you are experiencing, the process of psychotherapy is not easily described in general terms. Rest assured that psychological treatment is based on extensive behavioral science research. Psychotherapy approaches target specific problems and it involves working collaboratively with your therapist to develop deeper insights, change your thinking and behavior, and apply new coping skills in everyday life to experience meaningful improvement.
Most people will get out of therapy what they put into it. We will provide encouragement and guidance throughout the entire experience on ways you can best engage in the process to maximally benefit.