What sorts of problems are appropriate for psychotherapy?
Any form of psychological distress is a candidate for psychotherapy. If you are seriously considering therapy, your issues are almost certainly appropriate for professional help. How does that follow? Well, people are generally reluctant to seek help for personal issues; it takes meaningful distress to even consider it. One of the main functions of psychotherapy, of course, is precisely the relief of psychological distress.
How does psychotherapy help?
Psychotherapy can be helpful in a number of ways, one of which is alluded to in an old aphorism that tells us: if you keep doing the same thing, you are likely to get the same result. That suggests if you want your life to be different in some way you will need to change something you are doing. Maybe that's easy enough to see. The challenge, of course, is to figure out exactly what you should be doing differently. Psychotherapy can help us find and implement answers to that question: it helps people discover what they need to do differently to get the results they want.
What sorts of problems do you work on?
I help individuals and couples with a huge range of issues. If you don't mind, it's easier for me to specify the sorts of troubles I do not usually work on because I believe they fall outside my area of expertise. If a client's main problem is drug abuse, abusing others, or severe aggression issues I typically will refer them to a therapist who specializes in those areas. Otherwise, I'm your guy.
How is "Solution-Focused" different from "Traditional" Psychotherapy?
There are a number of differences. The traditional approach to psychotherapy, for example, typically makes the reasonable assumption that we need to understand a problem before we can fix it. That understanding usually includes how the problem got started, and how it has evolved over time. In contrast, the solution-focused approach is more present and future oriented. It focuses on how the problem works today, what the client wants instead, and what needs to happen in order to achieve what the client wants. In other words, solution-focused therapy is more focused on creating the conditions a client wants, rather than deeply understanding what the client does not want. Because it does not expend as much effort in understanding a problem's history, solution-focused therapy can often proceed more rapidly than the traditional approach and has come to be known as "brief" therapy.
Is Solution-Focused Psychotherapy (SFP) always preferred?
In the end, therapy is about helping people. My tendency is to begin with the SFP approach because it often quickly and easily produces the outcomes clients have in mind. Often, but not always. It may be the case, for example, that what a client really wants is for another human being to hear his or her story and accompany them as they go through a difficult life transition. That's an entirely legitimate use of the therapeutic space and it calls for a perspective other than SFP. Fortunately, we are in no way limited to the SFP approach. There is a host of perspectives at our fingertips, the "preferred" ones will be those that are best suited to your needs.
How will I know when I am done?
Another good question! How do you know when you have had enough to eat? Maybe you don't feel hungry... you don't feel like you need to eat more? In a similar way, clients know when they are done with therapy. Often it's because they have resolved the issues that brought them to therapy in the first place. Often it's because they have become so much happier with their new lives... they have better things to do than sit around and hobnob with a crotchety old therapist.
Have a question you don't see answered here?
Send me an email. I'm more than happy to answer questions about my practice.
For an Appointment or Information, call: 301-263-0570
