Triggering: Long term therapy ?

[Nostalgia]

I'm currently in short term therapy but I'm going to be referred into long term therapy. All I know is that it means I can take my time in long term therapy. But is there more to it than that ? How does long term therapy work ?

[L'espoir]

Hey Lyd,

"therapy" is a very general term that can mean lots of different things. Obviously long term is self explanatory and can take place over months or even a year or so.... but there are lots of different kinds of therapy that you might be doing and without knowing that its hard to say what it will be like. Im doing DBT which should take about a year and is all about learning coping strategies and interpersonal effectiveness and things like that, however what i am doing could be completely different to you. You might do a type of trauma therapy or psychodynamic therapy. Im sorry, cos I know this hasn't really been much help to you, but dont worry about long term therapy. If you can find out the type, then maybe I can help you out more?

x

[LoveFever]

Honestly, I've found long term therapy to be much more helpful. You can take your time, like you said, but it's also much more relaxing and there's a lot less pressure to "get better".

[Nostalgia]

I'm not sure what type it is I'm doing but at the moment the counsellor I have got is challenging my thoughts and such like and today my counsellor asked about self harm ect. all I know is that I'm under the AMHT. Apart from that I don't really know what it is I'm doing. I got told that I'm getting referred because 6 sessions is not enough and that I need more time than just 6 sessions but need referring for that into long term as the counsellor I have at the moment only does short term therapy.

[L'espoir]

Hey,

Challenging thought processes is most likely to be CBT, maybe try looking it up online? I have done it before... its basically about changing the way you percieve things. So whereas you might see a friend and wave but they dont acknowledge you... you might be thinking that they are angry with you or something but they might really just be thinking about something and not notice you, yknow? Its things like that... but yeah, look it up! Its supposed to be really useful helping with things like depression, anxiety etc

x

[Nostalgia]

Yeah my counsellor is trying to change the way I look at things and the way I think. Will I have to go over the things I've talked about with the counsellor I have at the moment with the counsellor I'm going to get referred to for the long term therapy ? Or will they have been shown the things I've talked about ? I've only got three sessions left with the counsellor I've got at the moment. And I haven't really told them a-lot but have told them some things and have talked about some things ect.

[PSY]

Depending on the circumstances, your current therapist may just send your patient file over to the new therapist, who can then get "up to speed" on your situation and go from there.

Because you are meeting with an entirely new therapist, and because this is going to be a long-term relationship, I think it would be in your best interests to openly share information with this new therapist, even if you're reviewing things you told your previous therapist. It can only help you - after all, the more your therapist knows, the better able they are to create a treatment plan that is tailored to your specific needs. =)