When Does Counselling End...And Life Begin?
AKA: How Long Should You Have Counselling For?
Like many questions in life, the answer is "it depends".
Counselling, more than most other modalities, is all about perception, and how we personally perceive events, including counselling itself.
Enjoying Life
When we've "worked on ourselves" for a certain period, do we do this forever?
At what point can we stop being consciously concerned about our beliefs, perceptions, impacts of childhood on current events, etc, and simply enjoy the now-moments of life?
Counselling For A Specific Problem
Initially, most will arrive at counselling for a specific reason - to remedy "a particular issue, like anxiety, anger, or depression, that is causing significant emotional pain - enough to warranty professional attention.
Now, there are fine distinctions within the profession - of the difference between (e.g.) counselling and psychotherapy - with the majority defining counselling as a (relatively) short-lived therapeutic relationship, whereas psychotherapy can be much longer, and more in depth.
Counselling could be considered by many as a shorter-term, needs focussed exercise, while psychotherapy is often a longer term exploration of values, beliefs, upbringing, etc.
Multiple Considerations
Regardless, the duration, frequency, and recency of counselling sessions any one individual needs, will depend on multiple factors, e.g.
- The reason you started attending counselling - is it resolved?
- Strength of relationship with counsellor including results to-date, trust, empathy, boundaries, etc
- Noticeable improvements in quality of life, emotional balance
- Did the issue you first wanted help for - mean other issues came up for attention, during its resolution?
Exact Timescales Will Vary For Each Individual
As a guide, consider using your emotions as a benchmark.
Make an honest comparison of your emotions before therapy work, and now:
Also Consider
It's possible to access reduced cost counselling services across many UK cities, with a little creative research.
Personal Decision
The decision of whether to continue therapy work or not, is very personal to each individual. And a decision to discontinue therapeutic work doesn't mean you'll look at these issues again.
Indeed, once they've had those initial positive experiences of counselling, many consider therapy to be an ongoing concern, for good mental health.
Our counsellors adhere to the BACP code of ethics and practice.
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