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:

1. 1. No one technique or type of therapy works all the time (or even most of the time)
   2. The experience of the therapist is more important than any other qualification
   3. Therapists who can work on different levels – thoughts, emotions, relationships, the body/brain, behaviour and the environment are more likely to be effective
   4. 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
   5. Analysis of past events or ‘the unconscious mind’ is only marginally useful
   6. It is not what the therapist says that is important; it is what the client does with the information given
   7. Most of the changes the client hopes for will come in the first few sessions

   Continue reading →