Individual psychotherapy is a form of therapy that involves one-on-one sessions with an individual client. It can be helpful for those who are struggling with depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues. Psychologists have extensive training in the field and often use different treatment techniques to help their clients heal.
A psychologist’s office may include a couch where the therapist and client sit face-to-face, as well as a desk where they work together on activities such as sorting through thoughts or practicing relaxation exercises. In some cases there will also be chairs placed around the room so that clients can alternate between sitting next to each other and facing away from each other during conversation.
When clients experience distress in an area that is seriously important to them, they experience mental distress and seek professional help. Unless the client’s psychological distress becomes unbearable, they do not realize that they have psychological distress, or they open up to a psychologist, or they do not try to overcome their situation. Most of those applying for psychotherapy have a tendency to discontinue therapy when their ailments are tolerated. Studies show that the rate of quitting therapy is 65%.
Why do people need individual therapy?
A lot of clients are reluctant to come in for therapy when their problems seem simple, but the truth is that it does not take much time for therapy sessions to become effective.
Therapy sessions are highly productive in terms of healing ills because they are one-on-one, personalized, controlled environments with a trained professional.
Treatment in Individual Psychotherapy
Starting and continuing individual psychotherapy mostly depends on two factors: being distressed enough and wanting to change the situation. For the clients, anxiety or inconsistency, unhappiness, stressful situations, and the desire to find the purpose of life create the need for psychotherapy. Those who choose to begin the therapy process with their free will are those who have taken the biggest step and are closest to self-realization.
The role of the client is big in an individual psychotherapy process. It is the client, rather than the therapist, who initiates and drives the change process. Whether the therapy works or not, the active participation of the client in the healing process and the necessary effort and work for change is essential. Clients are the leading actors, not the ineffective people on whom the techniques are applied.
Regardless of the school of psychotherapy, therapists offer their clients something to encourage learning and growth, they show different perspectives. Today, there is a tendency to rely more on clients’ resources for the effectiveness of therapy. We can say that the involvement of the client in the therapy process is the most important factor that makes the therapy useful.
The therapeutic effects of individual psychotherapy also depend on the therapist and client’s acceptance and affirmation of each other. Although the therapist must show unconditional positive respect, the client’s affirmation of the therapist will facilitate the treatment by positively affecting the relationship.
In individual psychotherapy, good results will be obtained as long as the client and the therapist can integrate. When client-therapist integration occurs, the possibility of transferring experiences in therapy to relationships with others increases, and these experiences can be satisfying, meaningful, promising, instructive and transformative. An effective therapist focuses on the client’s problems, attaches importance to his/her effect, and helps the client focus on their awareness.
In therapies, clients are believed to be people who can make some constructive changes in their lives and have their own resources. The freedom and autonomy of the clients are supported when determining how to achieve their goals.
If an interpersonal environment with sufficient empathy, acceptance, and consistency is achieved in the individual psychotherapy process, the tendency to self-actualize in the clients will emerge and treatment will be realized. In this context, we can say that the therapist is someone who facilitates the client to mobilize his/her existing resources and potential for change.
Every client and every individual psychotherapy journey is unique. Although their problems are similar, each client will need different things and benefit from different things at different times. Instead of guiding the client with standard approaches, a treatment process created by the therapist and the client together will be more beneficial. Here, it is important for the therapist to be open to learning and to be able to determine what the client needs or what will be efficient in which situation.
In order to achieve positive therapy results, create therapeutic cooperation with the client, and activate the client’s interpersonal and internal learning processes, the therapist must understand the subjective reality of the client and convey this to the client in an empathetic manner. Empathic transference has a therapeutic effect in all therapies. Feeling understood is one of the most relaxing experiences for a person.
The therapists try to achieve as much success as they can by opening themselves in the individual psychotherapy process. By doing this, the therapist shows his/her sincerity. In return, the client will trust his/her therapist as a person. This enables clients to share more and be themselves without suspicion which is a huge step towards treatment.
In individual psychotherapies, it is necessary to focus on the strong emotional experiences of the client and encourage them to pay attention to these experiences and to process them. Positive therapy outcomes will be obtained when emotions and experiences felt in the body are processed effectively.
Certain characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors of the psychotherapist are very effective on the clients. They play an important role in making constructive therapeutic changes occur. When a good therapist presents the things that are most important to the client (such as feeling supported, encouraged, motivated) and makes this understood, great progress could be made in treatment.
Last Updated on December 3, 2021 by Lucas Berg
