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6. If I have unsure or negative feelings about my therapy or therapist, what should I do? Communication is what therapy is all about. The best thing to do is talk with your therapist. Being open and honest about your feelings is an important part of the therapeutic process. It can be more difficult to share negative or unsure feelings about therapy itself than to talk about issues and events that happened outside of the therapy office. If you are concerned about hurting or insulting your therapist, it may help to know that your therapist is trained to deal with these types of conversations. Good therapists will welcome your honesty and want to know more about your feelings. You may experience sharing your real feelings with your therapist as an opportunity or breakthrough in the therapeutic relationship. Your relationship with your therapist can be described as a microcosm of the other relationships in your life. In other words, how you act with your therapist is usually how you act with other people in your life. If you avoid discussing uncomfortable issues with your therapist, chances are you tend to avoid talking about difficult things with everyone else. Therapy can be a good place to practice new ways of relating to people. Bringing up any unsure or negative feelings about therapy or about your relationship with your therapist may take some bravery on your part, but the results can be worth it. After discussing your concerns with your therapist, you may have a new understanding of things or you may feel reassured about something that was bothering you. If you continue to be dissatisfied or unhappy with the process, you can always end therapy and seek help elsewhere. Your therapist will gladly give you the names of other therapists whom you can contact for an appointment. |