How Are Therapy Goals, Frequency, and Duration Determined?
Individual therapy works to significantly relieve emotional distress to help you live a healthier, more fulfilled life. Therapy at Palo Alto Therapy is collaborative, results-oriented, and highly supportive – you and your therapist will work together to create a personalized treatment plan and achieve your specific goals. Our therapists will guide and support you along the way and help hold you accountable to YOUR goals.
The frequency and duration of individual therapy required varies. Therapy may be short-term or long-term, depending on your individual needs and feelings. While CBT is generally considered short-term therapy, every individual is unique. The frequency and duration depends on your situation, your goals, your efforts, and your therapist’s recommendations.
The first session, an intake session, is longer than a typical session. Our therapists spend the first session asking questions to get a feel of your background, current and past emotional health, therapy goals, and address any questions or concerns regarding therapy. After the intake session, ongoing sessions are typically 45 to 60 minutes. However, some individuals greatly benefit from sessions longer than 60 minutes.
When Does Therapy End?
Therapy has two goals: feeling better and getting better. Feeling better means overcoming the symptoms that brought you to therapy, and getting better means learning the tools to manage your symptoms. Our goal is to help you not only feel better, but “stay” better for the long haul.
Once you have achieved your therapy goals, you will no longer need to see your therapist, except for working on some “Relapse-Prevention” methods, see below.
Before ending therapy, you are encouraged to have at least one final session, so you and your therapist have an opportunity to review relapse prevention techniques. If you ever need a tune-up session in the future, you are also welcome back to schedule a session with your therapist.
Get Started Today with Individual Therapy
Therapy is a great investment in your life. Feeling better is important and impacts so much of our lives. We’d love to support you toward your goals.
To book an appointment, call (650) 461-9026 or text us at (650) 461-9026 , email us at info@paloaltotherapy.com, or book an appointment here. Our amazing care coordinators are available Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm to listen to you and determine which therapist would be the best fit.