Questions and Answers

I have been seeing a therapist off and on for the past ten years. I felt like she did me a lot of good. After a break of two years, I returned to her to deal with heavier issues (sexual abuse and related issues) and everything seemed to have been going okay, but the six months or so, therapy has been slow going. My question is this: in spite of all the time we’ve worked together, we have never discussed a treatment plan or setting goals in therapy. How important is it and is this something that could be contributing to my feelings that therapy is not going the way I would like?   Some forms of structured and focused treatment, such as for phobias, have very precise treatment plans; other forms of treatment, such as psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy, have no more plan than “say whatever comes to your mind, bring in your dreams, and let’s see what happens.” Yet, either one of these extremes is still a treatment plan. Anyone in psychotherapy, however, deserves to know the treatment plan. If you’re not clear about the plan, ask—it’s your right as a consumer. After all, if you don’t know where you’re going, how can you know when you get there?    Back to the list of questions

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