Trying to keep this eli5 (though it may be more like eli10):
The point of therapy is to work with someone called a therapist to learn (healthy) ways to identify and change negative thought and behavior patterns that make you feel bad or get in the way of your goals. A therapist is like a teacher or a coach who will use conversation, exercises, and homework to help you practice and learn these new skills.
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Not eli5: I am a clinical psychologist who does mostly time-limited cognitive and behavioral therapy, which focuses on maladaptive thought and behavior patterns as maintaining factors of a problem and, thus, as proximal mechanisms of change. Regardless of therapeutic orientation, goals in therapy are aimed at improving quality of life, particularly emotional (eg alleviating distress) or functional, occupational, or social (eg reducing impairment) etc. There should always be a goal that you set no matter what type of therapy you do; different therapeutic orientations simply posit different ways of getting there (ie different mechanisms of change)… some with more or less evidence behind their effectiveness depending on the goal one is trying to achieve / problem one is trying to address.
If someone is not sure what they’re working on in therapy, the goal might be poorly defined or (and I’m not saying this is your case) it may be an indicator the person is not in need of therapy (not everyone is). Your therapist should help you identify and nail down your goal (using SMART goals can be helpful here). They should also be able to tell you exactly what type of therapy they’re doing and the rationale for how that will help you achieve that goal. If they can’t, I would be just as skeptical as if my pcp gave me some medicine but couldn’t tell me what my diagnosis was (eg strep throat), what they’re prescribing for it (eg an antibiotic called penicillin), and why that should work (eg antibiotics mess up vital processes in bacteria —> which kills them or stops them from spreading —> and helps my immune system fight off the infection). Edited to add: much like antibiotics, also consider recommended duration and frequency of treatment and how that aligns with your expectations when trying to determine whether you see any benefit.
Featheredwyngs t1_j6h4wg0 wrote
Reply to eli5 what is the point of therapy? by dumbass__stupid
Trying to keep this eli5 (though it may be more like eli10):
The point of therapy is to work with someone called a therapist to learn (healthy) ways to identify and change negative thought and behavior patterns that make you feel bad or get in the way of your goals. A therapist is like a teacher or a coach who will use conversation, exercises, and homework to help you practice and learn these new skills.
—-
Not eli5: I am a clinical psychologist who does mostly time-limited cognitive and behavioral therapy, which focuses on maladaptive thought and behavior patterns as maintaining factors of a problem and, thus, as proximal mechanisms of change. Regardless of therapeutic orientation, goals in therapy are aimed at improving quality of life, particularly emotional (eg alleviating distress) or functional, occupational, or social (eg reducing impairment) etc. There should always be a goal that you set no matter what type of therapy you do; different therapeutic orientations simply posit different ways of getting there (ie different mechanisms of change)… some with more or less evidence behind their effectiveness depending on the goal one is trying to achieve / problem one is trying to address.
If someone is not sure what they’re working on in therapy, the goal might be poorly defined or (and I’m not saying this is your case) it may be an indicator the person is not in need of therapy (not everyone is). Your therapist should help you identify and nail down your goal (using SMART goals can be helpful here). They should also be able to tell you exactly what type of therapy they’re doing and the rationale for how that will help you achieve that goal. If they can’t, I would be just as skeptical as if my pcp gave me some medicine but couldn’t tell me what my diagnosis was (eg strep throat), what they’re prescribing for it (eg an antibiotic called penicillin), and why that should work (eg antibiotics mess up vital processes in bacteria —> which kills them or stops them from spreading —> and helps my immune system fight off the infection). Edited to add: much like antibiotics, also consider recommended duration and frequency of treatment and how that aligns with your expectations when trying to determine whether you see any benefit.