How Psychotherapy Works

Individual psychotherapy has been the core of my career for the past 17 (and counting!) years. Here is a quick overview of how I approach psychotherapy:

How to pick a psychotherapy approach?

One of the daunting aspects of starting psychotherapy is the realization that there are various psychotherapy approaches. How to pick the right approach?

Over the years, I’ve come to believe that this concern is overstated. While the choice of psychotherapy approach matters, there are many different paths towards positive results. Instead of thinking of an approach as being the one true solution, I prefer to see each approach as a tool that can be useful in specific situations.

In my own practice, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) are my main frames of references, as well as attachment theory. However, there are countless other theories, frameworks and techniques that I’ve found useful over the years and that I might use with a specific client.

For this reason, I work with each client to develop a tailored approach that makes sense to their particular situation.

How to pick a psychotherapist?

Picking the right psychotherapist is the key decision. Research shows that the main factor determining therapy success is the relationship between client and therapist (which is called the “therapeutic alliance”).

In my experience, this choice is a deeply personal one. The success of the therapy depends not just on techniques, but mainly on the fit between client and the psychotherapist.

The client-psychotherapist fit is hard to know in advance, as it can be influenced by many factor that go beyond the technical approach (communication style, culture, empathic connection, sense of humour, etc.). For that reason, I find it helpful to have short free 15-minute consultations with my clients.

These sessions are an opportunity for the client to get know the therapist, but also for the therapist to assess whether they are the best support for the client.

In short, my advice is to do a bit of research, check in with your gut about how you feel about working with someone and to book an initial session before moving forward.

What are the issues that psychotherapy can help me with?

I’ve seen psychotherapy help people dealing with an immense variety of issues: anxiety and perfectionism, family dynamics, career decisions and many others.

In a way, psychotherapy is not exactly about specific issues, but about you as a whole — it’s an opportunity to help you developing the skills, uncover emotional patterns and strengths that allow you to face challenges throughout life.

In short, there is not a defined set of issues that requires psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is a tool that you can use to help get unstuck in different areas of life.

How do I know if my issue is serious enough for therapy?

A common misunderstading is thinking that only people in severe situations or in a crisis should seek therapy. I will offer you an alternative way of looking at this: If you are suffering, that’s enough reason to seek support. While some amount of suffering is part of life, there are ways to cope with it and find a path leads to a rich, meaningful life.

How long therapy should last?

People often think that you need to commit to years of therapy before seeing results.

In my practice, I aim to support my clients in achieving reasonable progress as early as the first sessions. Following that, we continue to work together as long we both mutually agree that is valuable to do so. This means that both the length of therapy and frequency of sessions are adjusted to the needs of each client.

For some people, this might mean a handful of sessions to solve a well-defined issue. For others, more sessions might be required to deal with emerging or evolving challenges.

In short, long-term commitment is not required. We will work together on a specific plan, tailored to your needs, and adjust as we start making progress.

If this sounds interesting to you, you can use the link below to book a free informational call.

What a first session looks like?

The first step is booking a call. The link bellow will allow you to find some time in my agenda.

During our first session, I will ask you a few questions to get to know you and explain the therapeutic process. Then, we will jointly discuss a plan of how we could work together. If the plan makes sense for both of us, we will proceed from there.

I hope to hear from you soon!