5 Questions To Consider Before Your Therapy Session
Your therapist isn’t the only one who should come to the session prepared.
by Rachel Linder
We can’t tell you how many times we’ve googled the question: “What should I talk about in therapy?”. Whether you’re getting ready for your first therapy session or it’s been years and you simply feel like you’re running out of things to say, it’s important to always reflect. By reaching inward you think about exactly what is at the forefront of your mind when it comes to mental health, which can help you to be prepared with topics and ideas to share once you finally sit down with your mental health specialist. Of course, you’re expecting them to come to the session prepared to speak with you, so it’s crucial that you should feel prepared as well—and we’re here to help you hold yourself accountable for that.
By working to answer these questions you can help to set realistic goals for your time in therapy and provide the professional with a direction moving forward. We can’t expect our therapists to be mind readers—even though sometimes it’s easy to fall prey to this way of thinking. Hopefully you’re not reading this five minutes before your session, but we know it’s a possibility. (You wouldn’t be the first one doing a desperate search for things to say.) Instead, though, it would be ideal to have time to really consider these questions. Write them down, think about them deeply and even jot some ideas on paper that can help to begin to answer them. By doing this, you’ll truly feel ready to talk—and hopefully jumpstart the session in a positive way.
What are the goals that I hope to achieve from therapy? Are there any steps I have begun to take to get there? (If you’ve already begun therapy you should consider how you’ve been progressing towards your goals since you’ve started.)
Have I been feeling myself lately? If the answer is no, why is that? How has it impacted my everyday life?
Has my sense of worry or feelings of sadness been increasing? Is there something this can be attributed to?
Is there a thought that I have that’s all-consuming or an event that occurred or coming up in the future that I can’t stop thinking about? Why is that?
Do you feel that something in your life needs to change? What is it, and why?
By thoughtfully considering these questions over time leading up to a therapy session, you’ll likely be able to spark conversation with your professional right away. Not only do these questions allow you to look inward, but they also help to look towards the future in a way that can help you to set realistic goals for therapy.