Top 10 Therapy FAQs

In my time as a therapist, I have run into many questions. While I have FAQs on each of my services pages, I thought it would also be good to do a blog post on FAQs that aren’t so tailored to the populations I specialize in. So, below you will find the top 10 frequently asked questions I get as a therapist.

1.      Do I need to prepare for my first session?

Here is the thing about therapy, it isn’t like most of your other medical experiences. At least, I hope not. Therapy is about you. So, the only thing you need to come with is yourself. Now, you could make the decision that you would like your clinician to communicate with your doctor, psychiatrist, or maybe even a family member. In that case, you would need to provide a Release of Information document, also known as an ROI, to the clinician. This document is one that the clinician would give to you and allows the clinician to speak with those other parties you wish them to. However, this is typically something you would talk about with your therapist in your first session and wouldn’t be done before then.

2.      What to expect in the first session?

I did an extensive blog post on this topic last week; you can find that here. But, to sum it up quickly, you can expect three main things to happen in your first session. Your therapist will address the paperwork they would have wanted you to complete before the session. The therapist will ask a lot of questions to better understand what motivated you to come to therapy and to begin getting to know you better. Finally, your therapist will ask about the goals you are wanting to achieve in therapy.

3.      Is therapy only for severe situations?

This is a common misconception that many people have about therapy. The answer is no. Therapy is appropriate for any time of your life. I have had clients come to therapy because they see an area in their life that they would like to be better at but wanted a professional to help them. A common one I have clients come to my office for is communication. This includes individuals, couples, and families. Think of therapy as a tool to help you get better or heal. Whether severe or not.

4.      How much is therapy and will the therapist accept my insurance?

The price of therapy is dependent on many factors. Just like any good or service the price can be different depending on where you live, the caliber of the professional you are seeking, and if you are using your insurance or not. Which brings me to the second part of this question about insurance. Whether a therapist takes insurance or not is entirely up to the clinician. Personally, I do not take insurance for a myriad of reasons. I know of colleagues who couldn’t imagine not accepting insurance. It is important to note that whether a clinician does or doesn’t take insurance isn’t a determinant of their quality.

5.      How long is a therapy session?

The length of therapy is determined by the clinician and what type of therapy you are seeking. In my practice my sessions are 50 minutes in length. In saying that, I do offer longer therapy sessions should I client feel they need something a bit longer. There are some styles of therapy that offer much longer sessions. These are called intensives. Intensives can be structured different depending on the therapist. However, one example is a weekend marriage intensive. This is where you spend several hours throughout the weekend with the therapist and your spouse/partner processing whatever issue(s) you want to address. Something to be aware of is intensives can cost a pretty penny.

6.       How can therapy help me?

Therapy can help in a myriad of different ways. The first is helping navigate environmental issues such as: family conflict, grief, loss of job, divorce, etc. If we focus specifically on Christian counseling, it can help a person build a stronger relationship with God as the individual heals from their pain points. Therapy also provides a lot of education on mental health topics that most other medical professionals are not equipped on.

7.      What is the difference between online counseling and in person counseling?

Ok, I am going to do the obvious and then move to the less obvious. Online counseling means you are at home, work, or wherever for your session. In person counseling requires you to go to your therapist’s office. Now that the obvious is out of the way let me touch on a few things that people don’t think about.

a.      The confidentiality of what you are processing can potentially feel different if you are doing counseling online instead of in person. One main reason I have clients tell me they do not like online therapy is because they always worry about the people they live with hearing what they are processing. When you go to therapy in person you are in that clinician’s office and it is just the people there for that session. In fact, most therapists will also have a noise canceling machine outside their office as a double protection.

b.      The feeling of online counseling and in person is different. I don’t mean that your therapist will be cold or aloof to you. What I mean is there is a screen that separates you and your clinician. This can put a barrier to how connected the client can feel with the therapist.  

c.      The last major difference between online and in person therapy is the possibility of technological issues. I cannot tell you how many times I have had a client getting really deep about their trauma or an experience they had, and the internet goes out. As the therapist it always makes me so frustrated for my client and I can only imagine how it makes my client feel.

8.      How often would I meet with my therapist?

Typically, therapy occurs once a week. In saying that, there can be nuances to how often you are seen. One of these nuances is the severity of your mental health. Some clients come to session at a crisis point. For those clients the clinician may recommend coming in more than once a week. The other nuance could be that you cannot afford weekly sessions, but you want to go to a specific therapist. In this case, therapists will allow the client to come every other week.

9.      What is the difference between a secular therapist and a Christian therapist?

The biggest difference between these two types of therapists is that one incorporates Chrisitan principles and scripture into session, while the other doesn’t. However, this does not mean that the secular therapist has therapeutic training and the Christian therapist doesn’t. Both of these therapists are required to achieve, at minimum, a master’s degree in therapy and be registered with their respective state board. The Christian therapist would have their therapeutic master’s degree, along with some training in Christian therapy or ministry. I also wrote an in-depth blog post on this topic; you can take a look at it here.

10.  How long will I attend therapy?

Alright, I am sure you are tired of hearing this by now, but it depends. There are several factors that contribute to the length to which a client would be in therapy. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to: the severity of their situation, the amount of goals the individual sets for therapy, and the clients financial situation. Having said this, therapy doesn’t always take years. I have had clients attend therapy for a few months. I have had clients attend therapy for a few days because of the type of therapy they did. Furthermore, I have also had clients come to me off and on for a few years.  

I really hope these questions help you as you navigate the waters of going to therapy or finding a therapist. If you want more information about the different services that I offer you can find them here: couples counseling, family counseling, premarital counseling, and women’s counseling. You can also contact me at (725) 356-6631 or amanda@setapartcounseling.net to discuss setting up a therapy session.