Psychotherapy is a space where, in addition to being listened to, you can listen to yourself. Something that doesn't happen much in everyday life due to all the outside noise and the rush we have. Or because certain thoughts are so unpleasant that we don't even want to have them (which only feeds the obsessive thoughts). But, when one decides to take that step and start a therapeutic process, sooner or later, one ends up listening to oneself and understand how he reacts to the cards he is dealt and how he wants to play them.
This self-awareness generates changes. Sometimes they are very noticeable and easy to relate to the advice received in psychotherapy. Other times, however, the changes occur little by little. Suddenly, we don't feel so frustrated or anxious. Or they occur to us. different alternatives to the same problem. That's why the duration of psychotherapy cannot be predicted in the first session. It's different for each person.
If I start psychotherapy, will it last forever?
No.
In an article for Psychology Today female psychoanalysts Mary FitzGerald and Rebecca Landau-Millin, they write:
The frequency and duration of therapy are discussed jointly between the therapist and patient and ultimately decided by the patient. Individuals benefit from a wide range of treatment durations, from very short consultations to long-term therapy or psychoanalysis, depending on the individual and their goals and needs.
Although the duration of therapy can be estimated and, logically, everything has parameters, it is the therapeutic path that will determine the duration of the process. This path depends on the reason for the consultation, the person's resources, their way of processing what happens during the sessions, and their self-awareness. However, like everything in life, psychotherapy has an end. Its objective is for those who come to it to eventually acquire the tools and skills necessary to listen, understand and act.
