Do I Need Therapy?

What is the first appointment like? 

• Your first therapy appointment is called an Intake. If your appointment is via telehealth, you will receive a Google Meet link to join via a HIPAA secure link. Once the meeting starts, your therapist will collect information about you, your history and symptoms, and the big question of: what brings you to therapy? Together, we will create a treatment plan with specific goals to help you on your journey to better mental health!

• Additionally, the first session is used to assess goodness of fit on both sides. Sometimes you may want something the therapist may not specialize in, or sometimes it’s just not a personality fit. The most important factor of therapy is the relationship between client and therapist, which is why it’s important that both you and the therapist feel like it’s a match to begin therapy!  

What is psychodynamic therapy?

• There are so many types of therapy that it can feel overwhelming! Very briefly, psychodynamic therapy is figuring out how your past experiences impact how you are doing currently, which often involves exploring dynamics that are unconscious, or outside our awareness (but very much still alive and driving our behavior)! This type of therapy dives deep into the study of you, your self-identity, and your lifestyle patterns to get at the “whys.” A psychodynamic focus helps you make profound, long-term change. 

• The benefits of psychodynamic therapy are broad and very specific to you, but some themes include going through life with more ease and decreased symptoms. Areas such as self-esteem, relationships, communication, emotion regulation, and self-understanding (among many other things!) often improve in tandem with psychodynamic therapy.

Will I get a diagnosis in therapy? 

• Yes. In order to be reimbursed by insurance, a diagnosis is necessary in order for treatment to be considered “medically necessary.” Therapy is a slower diagnostic process than other services like testing, so a diagnosis may be fluid in treatment, meaning it could change based on your symptoms, or based on more information that we discuss in our sessions.

How is therapy different from talking to a friend? 

• This is such a great question! Talking to friends is wonderful, especially if you have a good support system, but a therapist has a different role and different training in your life than a friend. A therapist receives extensive training in mental health and needs at least a masters degree to do this work. While friends can be good listeners, therapists are also trained to identify patterns in your life and help you with coping skills through a mental health lens.

• Sessions are not just “chats” about life. Therapy has specific goals that focus on helping you feel better while decreasing the volume on symptoms and increasing the volume on coping skills and personal insight.

• Therapists are also legally bound to keep your information confidential. We also keep strong boundaries in sessions because therapy is your space, and all the attention is on you and your needs! This also means that therapists don’t necessarily provide advice, but instead provide guidance and exploration so you can make your own choices.

What if I have more questions?

As always, you may contact the office if you have further questions. Our administrative team would be happy to assist you! Email: appointments@questpsych.org