Psychotherapy is not a ‘you talk I listen’ scenario, it involves active participation from both the therapist and the client.  In order for the therapy to be most successful, the patient may be required to do certain homework exercises as well as implant certain things in their lives as discussed during sessions.

Any form of therapy involves discussing unpleasant aspects of one’s life, which can leave people feeling vulnerable, depressed, guilty or angry.  It is important that the client share these experiences with the therapist so that it can be explored and dealt with.  Therapy often leads to better relationships, solutions to specific problems, and significant reductions in feelings of distress. But there are no guarantees of what one will experience.

The first few sessions are generally seen as evaluation sessions where the full details of the client’s problems are explored and thus patient’s needs are determined. Once the evaluation is complete, the therapist should be able to provide some first impressions of what the therapy work will include and a treatment plan to follow.  It is also during this time that both the client and the therapist should determine whether they are comfortable with engaging in psychotherapy with each other.