Therapy Homework

[Reflections]

Is it unusual for therapists to not give a lot of homework? Just wondering if this is a choice of style or method, or if this unusual.

 

[frogthroat]

Are you relatively new to therapy? Your therapist probably wants to understand what's going on with you first and then give you appropriate homework so you don't get overwhelmed.

 

[Reflections]

I've been in Therapy for about 9 months. I came into therapy highly anxious and overwhelmed, almost incapable of handling any topics without grounding/coping skills. I also tend to be very proactive in helping myself. I'm doing better but I guess I can see why my T wouldn't add much to my load. My T told me she didn't want to scare people off with too much homework when I asked her about it. When I hear everyone else talk about homework I feel like maybe I'm missing something important.

 

[Teamwork]

I make my own homework as mine rarely mentions it. I dont even think he uses it

 

[frogthroat]

When I hear everyone else talk about homework I feel like maybe I'm missing something important.

If It makes you feel any better I'll be in therapy a year in February and I've been prompted to get on anti-depressants before we go any further. All my therapist wants me to do right now is think positive and that's almost overwhelming for me at this point. I've also been told I've made huge progress. I think sometimes it's hard to gauge how well you're doing in therapy. I thought I would be done with therapy after 6 months. I was sadly mistaken.
Some of the people on this forum have been in therapy for literal years so it would make sense that they would have more homework than someone who's been in therapy for 9 months.
Sometimes, my T asks me to track my moods or practice a particular coping skill but that's pretty rare. Mostly, we do EMDR and talk.

 

[ILoveLife]

Depends on the therapist, the work you do in therapy, if you ask for tools, if you have specific troubles... there's a lot of variants.

I've had Ts who didn't give any homework, others that it seems that's all they did :)

All perfectly ok and acceptable, depending if the therapy has been helpful for you or not.

 

[EveHarrington]

I have homework assignments occasionally.

 

[Friday]

Yep... it’s a style thing. It’s also a methodology thing, and a judgment call.

Judgement meaning even if their personal style is to give lots of homework, and the treatment protocol uses a lot of homework, that same therapist may well give zero homework if they decide it would be a bad idea with that client, at that time. Or the reverse. Or anything in between.

So you’ve got three pieces interacting with each other to provide a very large spectrum of normal.

Style = None / rarely / sometimes / often / always
Method = face to face -or- teamwork only / balanced / highly individualistic
Judgement = ?

 

[Reflections]

@RuffledFeathers You sharing that honestly does help <3

Thank you everyone, it helps greatly to know that I'm not the only one and that this is a choice of style, method, judgment, etc. I'm not feeling out of place anymore or that something may be wrong.

 

[Changing4Best]

I give myself homework, like art therapy. I paint my emotions. My T likes it a lot that I do this, but it was my own idea. I also consider writing in my Private Trauma Diary here to be homework. I also crochet, just to calm my nerves.

Sometimes she will remind me not to take stuff so personally, which is a huge fault of mine. That is sort of homework.