Can we view our feelings subjectively – how do we cope with the feeling of making little progress in psychotherapy?

In today's fast-paced life, coping with the feeling of not making progress in the field of psychotherapy becomes a challenge, not only for the individual but also for psychotherapists. The main goal of psychotherapy is a safe and confidential, client-centred environment in which a therapeutic intervention is applied to help resolve emotional or psychological problems. Many people feel the need to get there faster and get closer to that skilful and good feeling that leads us to personal growth.

There is always burn out. There is a feeling of 'I'm getting nowhere', 'what am I even doing?' Such feelings most often arise very early in therapy, because in this phase of therapy we explore thoughts, emotions and memories that we avoid, and we often resist looking into the past. According to psychotherapists, this feeling discourages thoughts and behaviours that can lead to certain changes in our thinking. Therapy stagnates because patients hold on to established defence mechanisms. We must challenge our feelings by looking at the event without judgement and understanding how we feel after it. This feeling of lack of progress can be discouraging and deter people from seeking help when it is needed. Ultimately, some people overcome the feeling of lacking effort by becoming more active in psychotherapy, reinforcing some methods with their psychotherapists. However, it is important to understand what stands between you and your sense of timely progress. If you have ever felt in your life that you are not making progress in psychotherapy, work with your psychotherapist. They are valued when it comes to creating progress in psychotherapy because they tend to offer a different perspective and use techniques that relax the rigid structures within us. Sometimes improvement happens in small amounts and we simply don't notice it. You have already made enormous progress if you have approached yourself and your own development. Of course, you may encounter this way of thinking during certain wavelengths of life; however, this happens because we perceive so-called 'non-progress' from only one perspective. We cannot approach our emotions objectively because we come to psychotherapy to get to know them better. One approach to tracking goals and progress can be achieved through keeping a diary or setting measurable goals for short periods. In this way you will establish your progress through everyday situations and you will not lose awareness of it.

In reality, time is needed; psychotherapy does not happen overnight, so there is nothing wrong with being curious about why therapy is not going well or why you do not see progress.

It is important that you are here, that you want to work on yourself and, most importantly, that you want to connect with all parts of yourself, and when you do that, you will have the opportunity to give love to each of those parts. If you want to take the first step and decide to start psychotherapy, our team of psychotherapists is here for you.