When Should I Stop Going To Therapy?
When You Have Increased Insight Into Patterns & Dynamics
When you are more aware of your patterns/dynamics
When the unconscious becomes conscious
When you are more aware of what used to be invisible or you were unable to articualte what was going on
Awareness is powerful because now you have the opportunity to stop these patterns/dynamics from continuing, especially if they are unhelpful and ineffective from having the life you want
When You Achieve/Reach Your Goals
If reached all of your initial goals you wanted to work on and there’s no new goals you want to work on
If you have new goals, you can let them your therapist know and see if resuming treatment would be useful
When Your Initial Symptoms/Issues Have Decreased
If you feel better and less sad/anxious/hopeless, this could be a sign you might be finished with therapy
Or perhaps you’d like to continue going to maintain these gains and areas of growth
When You Don’t Find Session Helpful & Ineffective Consistently
When you find sessions consistently unhelpful
Maybe the therapist isn’t offering you anything new perspectives or insights anymore
Or perhaps you find it harmful or unhelpful because the feedback and insight you are given isn’t relevant for you and your life consistently
Consistency is the key word here rather than a 1-2x occurrence
When You’ve Plateaued
Maybe you feel like you’ve grown and changed as much as you can with this particular therapist
Maybe you need a new approach/model/framework or different type of therapist with a different personality or style
Whenever You Want
You have the right to end sessions with or without notice to your therapist
You don’t even have to let your therapist know, though it is always nice to have notice because no one likes to be ghosted
Things To Remember
Some people go to therapy to learn more about themselves and they view it as growth and persona development work
Some people go to therapy to manage their mental health symptoms like anxiety and depression
Consider if you want to use insurance or pay out of pocket because fees are a barrier for most people
Questions to Ask Yourself
Do I view therapy as short-term or long-term? Why is this?
What are my goals in therapy?
When will I know I have achieved or reached my goals? How will I feel? What will be different when I reach my goals?
Do I view going to therapy as prevention or intervention?
What’s my relationship to asking for help? Is it easy or difficult for me to ask for help and rely on others?
What’s my perception of those who go to therapy? Is it positive, natural, or negative?