While it’s true that therapy can be an effective treatment for many different mental health problems, it’s also true that in order for someone to reap the full benefits of therapy, collaboration between the therapist and the patient is necessary. An article posted on Medical News Today titled “Getting the most out of your therapy: How to collaborate with your therapist”, touched on a few key steps to take in order to establish a collaborative relationship with your therapist.
1) If you feel as though your therapist is “off-course” with his/her approach or treatment suggestions, be direct; discuss your concerns with your therapist right away. Therapists are human and therefore subject to make errors in judgment just like the rest of us.
2) If your therapist makes a suggestion you don’t like, such as a medication or treatment you don’t agree with, make sure to get all the information about the suggestion before completely discounting it.
3) Once your therapist’s suggestions have been completely laid out, if you still don’t agree, you may have the option to invite a second therapist into the sessions to act as a consultant. This consultant would work with the primary therapist and yourself in order to establish a more collaborative relationship. Once the conflict is resolved, the consultant would discontinue coming to the sessions and you and your therapist will continue working together.
This article points out that while leaving one therapist for another is always an option, it may be discouraging to have to start over with a new therapist, especially if a significant amount of time has been put in to establish the patient/therapist relationship, so it’s best to try and reconcile the communication problems rather than start all over with another therapist.
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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7 Responses to “Effective therapy requires collaboration between therapist and patient” (Pingbacks/trackbacks not shown below)
314159pi at 1:19 am on
March 17th, 2008
i am using a therapist now with great success. But that is not reflective of my history with therapists. I find young inexperienced social workers and family counselers are not merely judgemental but secretive about it. No amount of collaboration could have fixed the problems i had with such care-givers. They needed an attitude adjustment from their peers. I was their victim for trusting them.
regular reader at 2:18 pm on
March 17th, 2008
On spot! And 314159pi - your thoughts mirror mine. I spent 6 years with an empty suit of an MSW who was very young, inexperienced and - I now realize - judgmental to the point of adversarial, manipulative, secretive and incompetent.
It took more than a year outside of that setting for me to recognize the great harm he had done. I’m with a therapist now who is non-judgmental, encouraging, open and a collaborative ally. I wish I had had this article back then when I needed it most.
Now if we could just get doctors and therapists to expunge the word ‘non-compliant’ ESPECIALLY as it extends to people who ask questions, the therapeutic climate would feel safer. Less intimidating, anyway.
314159pi at 12:25 am on
March 18th, 2008
hi regular reader.
i don’t mind judgemental or opinionated social workers until it gets in the way of their relationship with the client. i think they are secretive and thats bad. i often wonder whether judgemental quality isn’t some form of defense mechanism when their ministrations are ineffective.
eg, how many times must a sometime psychotic hear nonsensical accusations that he’s a former drug addict and bought his condition on himself. or alternatively a family counseller takes sides in a family dispute leading to more destructive behavior?
craig at 10:20 am on
May 9th, 2008
I am not sure what specifics are being referred to regarding “judgemental qualities”. However, I do know that patients need to be called out on the choices and subsequent behaviors that contribute to their pain. This is true whether mental health therapy or even other therapies such as physical therapy.
Many patients are of the mindset that the therapist should cure them while they sit there passively (victim posture). The collaborative theme is right on.
314159pi at 6:42 pm on
July 8th, 2008
one example of a therapist being judgemental is concealed anger and frustration by lack of progress. young social workers don’t ‘call people out’ for their behavior. they don’t want any responsibility for their patients behavior. instead they grind their teeth and sabotage the therapy process.
at least thats my experience more than once. i assumed someone was my advocate and could give me some direction when i was confused and in danger. boy was i wrong.
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i am using a therapist now with great success. But that is not reflective of my history with therapists. I find young inexperienced social workers and family counselers are not merely judgemental but secretive about it. No amount of collaboration could have fixed the problems i had with such care-givers. They needed an attitude adjustment from their peers. I was their victim for trusting them.
On spot! And 314159pi - your thoughts mirror mine. I spent 6 years with an empty suit of an MSW who was very young, inexperienced and - I now realize - judgmental to the point of adversarial, manipulative, secretive and incompetent.
It took more than a year outside of that setting for me to recognize the great harm he had done. I’m with a therapist now who is non-judgmental, encouraging, open and a collaborative ally. I wish I had had this article back then when I needed it most.
Now if we could just get doctors and therapists to expunge the word ‘non-compliant’ ESPECIALLY as it extends to people who ask questions, the therapeutic climate would feel safer. Less intimidating, anyway.
hi regular reader.
i don’t mind judgemental or opinionated social workers until it gets in the way of their relationship with the client. i think they are secretive and thats bad. i often wonder whether judgemental quality isn’t some form of defense mechanism when their ministrations are ineffective.
eg, how many times must a sometime psychotic hear nonsensical accusations that he’s a former drug addict and bought his condition on himself. or alternatively a family counseller takes sides in a family dispute leading to more destructive behavior?
I am not sure what specifics are being referred to regarding “judgemental qualities”. However, I do know that patients need to be called out on the choices and subsequent behaviors that contribute to their pain. This is true whether mental health therapy or even other therapies such as physical therapy.
Many patients are of the mindset that the therapist should cure them while they sit there passively (victim posture). The collaborative theme is right on.
one example of a therapist being judgemental is concealed anger and frustration by lack of progress. young social workers don’t ‘call people out’ for their behavior. they don’t want any responsibility for their patients behavior. instead they grind their teeth and sabotage the therapy process.
at least thats my experience more than once. i assumed someone was my advocate and could give me some direction when i was confused and in danger. boy was i wrong.
