But how do you know if therapy is actually working?
When it comes to analyzing the efficacy of therapy, assess how your life has changed through therapy and how you feel about therapy in general. This is about knowing where you were when you started and how far you have come in the process.
Sure, you might get angry with your therapist, but that doesn’t mean that therapy isn’t effective. Sometimes, what we don’t want to hear is exactly what we need to hear. And we naturally resist change in general, meaning that we unknowingly may fight the therapist when it comes to moving forward.
So how do you decide whether or not your shrink is a match? Here are five questions that you can ask to see just how effective your therapy is.
- Does my therapist “get me?”
As weird as this concept is, therapy involves a relationship of sorts. And according to Psych Central, one of the greatest determiners of therapy's efficacy involves the quality of that relationship.
In short, you’ve got to have a connection. You need to feel close to and trusting of your therapist. But at the same time, you should feel as if your therapist respects your boundaries. This doesn’t mean that your therapist shouldn’t push you -- he or she should. However, you should feel as if your therapist communicates with you in a way in which you are comfortable.