People have different attitudes and needs around therapy. Treatment lengths can be as short as one session, three months, or three years and increase in length from there. Some people view therapy as a permanent fixture in their life–not because they never “get better,” but because some find great value in having a constant, impartial support figure in their life.

The relationship you develop with your therapist is unique and special. As long as it does not become co-dependent, you may find that you want to maintain that relationship indefinitely. For most clients, a therapist’s goal is to work themselves out of a job, so progress and treatment length is periodically discussed to ensure that clients get the most appropriate care possible.

Session frequency has a lot to do with how long your treatment lasts. As a rule of thumb, the more often you come to therapy, the faster things move because intensity increases with frequency. However, there may be financial and energetic constraints on how often a person can see their therapist. Most people start out at one session per week. It is advisable to discuss this with your therapist at the outset of treatment in order to collaborate on a recommendation for session frequency depending on your needs and goals.

One thing that clients consistently report is that the process of change is much more subtle and takes much longer than expected. Progress depends on many factors, such as client readiness, physical wellness, environmental stressors, frequency of sessions, and client-therapist match.

At the outset of your therapeutic experience, clients and therapists will work collaboratively to establish goals and indicators that goals are being achieved. One question to help define those benchmarks is, “How will we know when you have been able to successfully _________?” FPT therapists make it imperative to check in quarterly about goals and progress so that the process of therapy can grow and change along with you.

Overall, it can be hard to pinpoint whether therapy is “working” or not, but there are indicators of change we can observe. We look for instances when clients respond to old situations in new ways, when they are able to see things from a wider angle and know themselves in a way they didn’t before, and for symptom relief or a general sense of “feeling better.” We also look for improvements in performance at work or school, stronger, more intimate and healthier relationships, greater physical wellness, and achievement of developmental and individual life goals.

There are slight differences between both sets of terms and much variety around how the terms are used colloquially and academically. In mental health, “therapy” is the more traditional referent for any psychological treatment and is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of approaches, including counseling, psychology, and psychiatry. Counseling is a specific kind of approach that tends to be rooted in a wellness-focused treatment model rather than a pathologizing one. Licensed counselors can diagnose, do research, and provide mental health treatment.

Psychiatry and psychology again are similar in that they both pertain to the treatment of the mind, but psychology is an umbrella term that encompasses many disciplines such as neuropsychology, clinical, social, and developmental psychology. Those licensed as psychologists can specialize in testing and assessment, research, or clinical treatment. Psychiatry is organized around the medical model and uses psychotropic medications as the primary intervention strategy. Psychiatrists are medical professionals who have completed medical school and have a license to prescribe medication.