A Beginner’s Guide to a Therapy Session: What to Expect

Did you know that 47% of Americans believe that seeking therapy is a sign of weakness? The truth is that a lot of people around the world suffer from mental illness without getting treatment for it.

With an open dialogue, the stigma around therapy can change. If you want to change your perspective on therapy, it’s important to understand the process.

Keep reading to learn what to expect from a therapy session.

Intake Sessions

During the first sessions of therapy, you’ll go through something called intake. A therapist will introduce themselves, discuss their background and specialty, and ask what brought you to therapy.

Intake is there to help you decide if you and the therapist are a good match for each other.

The therapist might provide you with resources about symptoms you are experiencing and other mental health indicators. They’ll learn about your employment status, drug and alcohol use, sleep habits, etc.

Intake can last up to three sessions. Once this process is complete, you’ll move on to regular therapy sessions.

General Therapy Sessions

Your first therapy session will depend on the type of therapy you are doing. You’ll have space to talk about the things going on in your life.

A therapist will find patterns, point them out to you, and tell you how to work on skills to avoid negative patterns in the future. Some therapists give you “homework” to put skills into practice.

Therapy is an open space to help you evaluate whether or not it is working for you. If it isn’t, consider finding a different therapist that better matches your needs and comfort levels.

Types of Therapy

Whether you choose online therapy sessions or in-person, the way therapy goes during the general sessions will highly depend on the type of therapy you are getting.

It will also dictate who you choose as your therapist. For example, you can find teletherapy and anxiety therapy services with Kristin M. Papa, LCSW, CHWC.

Some of the other common therapy options that you might choose include the following:

• Talk therapy
• Cognitive-behavioral therapy
• Humanistic therapy
• Group therapy
• Art/music/dance therapy

To understand which therapy is right for you, research the different types. You can also reach out to a general therapist to talk about everyday life things.

Therapists might combine therapeutic approaches to further help their patients. Search for a therapist by type of approach, practice, or issues they might specialize in.

What to Expect at a Therapy Session

The process of a therapy session will be different depending on the type of therapy you need. If you have a specific issue that you want to cover, try to find a therapist that specializes in those issues.

After the first few intake sessions, you’ll move on to general therapy sessions to help you discuss whatever is on your mind. From there, you’ll receive solid advice, techniques, and homework to potentially solve your problems.

For more information on health topics like this, check out the other posts on our blog.