Until when should I go to the psychologist?

If you have reached this article, it may be the result of curiosity or because you find yourself in one of the following situations:

• You are considering start a process of psychological therapy, but one obstacle is thinking that the treatment may be longer than you are willing to assume.

• Currently you go to the psychologist but you do not know what depends on whether you are discharged from therapy or, what is the same, when you and your psychologist will say goodbye.

You are considering starting psychological therapy

If you find yourself in the first case, it is understandable that an added difficulty in making the decision to go to therapy may be the Economic cost.

My advice is that if you are clear that you need psychological help, do not think too much about this. It will be a topic that you will surely be able to talk to your therapist about and together define what is the best formula for you. In addition, after a while and as progress is made consultations will be spaced until discharge time, so the costs will not always be the same.

Anyway, when the process is finished and you look back, you will realize that the best investment you have been able to make is ask for professional help. If we put the expenditure made on one side of the balance and the profit obtained on the other side, the second will always weigh more. This is something that my patients often tell me when they say goodbye, satisfied that they have invested not only money, but also time and effort. 

When will my therapist discharge me?

From here, in this article I am going to focus on the second assumption: you have started going to the psychologist and you ask yourself questions such as the following: what is my therapist waiting for to discharge me? that I am improving? Should I dare to tell her that I want to space out the sessions or even stop seeing her? If I don't notice that the therapy is helping me, even when do I have to keep trying? etc..

At this point of barrage of intrusive thoughts, I will give you some advice: the first thing you have to do is give a space in consultation to share your questions with your therapist.

Do not invest energy in trying to get answers on your own to things that you do not understand or that do not depend only on you.

Sharing what you think is the best way to solve your doubts, transform irrational beliefs into contrasted ideas that can modulate your opinion on the subject and give importance to your needs.

Thus, your psychotherapist will be able to inform you of your particular case and give you his vision, not only regarding the therapeutic discharge but also to your entire therapy process.

10 indicators to discharge a patient

However, and attending to the objective of this article to clarify some things about the therapeutic discharge, below I summarize the 10 main indicators that psychologists take into account when deciding when to end a treatment and what things you should know about it.

1. The therapeutic discharge, as well as the space between sessions, is not something to be decided by the patient. Many times the better you feel, the more you think you can space the sessions, but this is not entirely the case. If there is evolution, perhaps it is precisely because of the frequency with which we attend and it is important to leave it in the hands of the therapist, unless there are force majeure causes that make it impossible to carry out the consultation.

In fact, with online therapy it is possible to see you with your psychologist without having to travel and it makes it easier for these premises to be met despite possible difficulties that may arise..

2. The reason the one for which you came to the consultation has improved significantly or even completely remitted if possible.

3. You are clear about what objectives have been pursued since you started the first session and you are satisfied with the results in this regard.

4. You have not only understood what is the origin of the discomfort, but also what factors make it stay and, therefore, what things have to change so as not to have a rebound in the symptoms that led to consultation.

5. You perceive the advances Throughout the process, in such a way that you are able to give feedback to your therapist on your evolution, without being left with doubts or concerns that you want to address before finishing the treatment.

6. They have spacing consultations considerably and despite this there has not been an upturn in symptoms or other added problems have appeared, not only generating changes but also maintaining them until they are consolidated.

7. There has been a follow-up phase of the problem before ending the psychological treatment.

8. You understand what paper has occupied the figure of the psychologist in your life, being a support that has accompanied you for a while, but that is part of your improvement to say goodbye and be able to face what comes by yourself, with the tools learned.

9. It is important that you are aware of to be able to contact again whenever you need it and leave the door open to possible future contacts, which involve doing a professional check on how you are feeling.

10. There are people who wonder that psychotherapeutic treatment is stopped when the person still has moments when they feel bad or even suffer. Under no circumstances do we have to associate discharge to feeling fully happy.

You should try to be realistic when setting your own goals and understand that discharge does not mean that difficulties no longer exist, but that you have strengthened yourself in such a way that you can face them without the systematic contrast of your therapist.

In short, going to the psychologist is like buying two one-way tickets to an unknown place. You will enjoy the trip together, you will build the way to travel and you will even share the views, but you will be the one who decides the next destination, and this time there will only be one seat for you. Of course, with the certainty and strength of wanting to do it alone.