How do you know when you’re done with therapy?

As a therapist in private practice, I am constantly asked how long therapy will last and how often a client will need to attend sessions. People still see a trope about therapy on TV that shows stereotypical psychoanalysis where people are expected to come in several times a week and see the same analyst for years. I read an essay recently written by a real psychoanalytic psychiatrist about refusing to take on new clients if they already have a psychiatrist; the argument is that since it’s such a highly in-demand specialty, patients should solve their problems with their current cringe and be glad they’re getting care. This essay also reinforced the idea that therapy means working for years and years with the same therapist.

But the field of mental health has come a long way since Freud, and psychoanalytic psychiatrists aren’t the only doctors out there. In many states, other behavioral health doctors, including mental health counselors (LMHCs) and marriage and family therapists (LMFTs). These master’s level physicians can treat clients, go under insurance and, in the case of Cognitive Behavioral Therapists, provide a style of mental health treatment that is as effective as medications for treating anxiety, depression, ADD. /ADHD, sexual dysfunctions and more. And here’s a little-known secret: Insurance panels don’t cover years of psychoanalysis because cognitive behavioral therapy (also known as CBT) is effective in a relatively short period of time.

Not making progress with your therapist? Change and understanding likely won’t happen overnight, but if your therapist can’t show you the progress you’ve made or set some tangible goals to reach, it might be time to start looking for someone new. Feedback Informed Treatment is a tool that counselors are using to measure the work you are doing in your psychotherapy sessions. When you can guide the session by gauging how things are going in your life and how things are going in the session, then talking to a therapist becomes real therapy and not just that stream of consciousness from the psychoanalytic days of yore.

I like therapy to learn a language. If you’re learning a new language, you can’t expect to master it overnight. By learning the basics of therapy and practicing at home, and then actually using the language in your everyday life, you’ll be well on your way to fluency. But even when you master a new language, that doesn’t mean there isn’t more to learn. How does that translate to therapy? You can start with one therapist and learn a few things, but of course move on to another therapist when you need some booster sessions and take advantage of that! The therapy may be evidence-based, but it’s still not as simple as: You have this diagnosis and now you’re cured. But the benefits of therapy don’t have to take years on the couch to achieve!