I have been practicing psychotherapy for nearly 30 years now, continually asking myself (and others) the question: how and why and where and when does therapy get results?
Here are some of the things I have learned:
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- No one technique or type of therapy works all the time (or even most of the time)
- The experience of the therapist is more important than any other qualification
- Therapists who can work on different levels – thoughts, emotions, relationships, the body/brain, behaviour and the environment are more likely to be effective
- Therapists who adapt to the client with different styles of communication: listening, teaching, nurturing, challenging, directing and humorous – are also more likely to be effective
- Analysis of past events or ‘the unconscious mind’ is only marginally useful
- It is not what the therapist says that is important; it is what the client does with the information given
- Most of the changes the client hopes for will come in the first few sessions