Success factors in therapy

A working relationship
Research indicates that the working relationship you and your therapist create will be the biggest factor contributing to success in therapy. So your choice of a therapist is very important. Specific qualities contribute to a successful relationship.

Therapists
Your therapist needs to have understanding, empathy and training to be helpful to you. They must be willing to evaluate how your needs, their skills and your personalities match to determine if they are the right counselor for you. They must be clear when it may be more helpful for you to see someone else. Therapists also need to have a high degree of self-knowledge so they do not impose their own issues and reactions on you. A therapist must put aside defensiveness and be willing to look at their part in the client/therapist relationship. This makes it easier for you to confront issues with your therapist.

Your role
You need to bring courage, engagement, perseverance and honesty to your sessions. The more you are willing to look at how you may contribute to what you experience, the more likely you are to see new ways of dealing with problems. This is not to find blame, but to enable you to be more conscious and intentional with your responses to people and events. Willingness to do the work outside of sessions is also conducive to more rapid progress. Use of support groups and other resources can also positively impact the therapeutic process.

Therapy, in the words of one psychiatrist is like “taking a graduate course in yourself.” If so, you want an engaged, informed teacher. And, you need to be willing to study.