What Signs Show Therapy Working?

[Meadowsweet]

I've had some bad times recently, but also I'm noticing changes. I'd like to think that I'm getting somewhere with therapy, But I can't imagine where it will get me, so I have no measure of whether therapy is working.

I wondered if anyone could give me some pointers of what are good changes please.

 

[Life_in_the_Mist]

For me, the signs of therapy working have been that I have felt calmer, less often suicidal, more able to cope with life...the world just seems brighter somehow. Also I don't hate myself.

 

[mamachick]

I wish that I could, but at this point I am just treading water. We do not even do trauma work. From session to session I seem to have so much daily stuff that comes up to just talk out.

I would say that if your symptoms are decreasing, it you are functioning better, thinking is clearer, emotions more stable, building more confidence, finding acceptance, being able to talk about it without becoming emotional-all would be good signs.

 

[molly63]

I know it's working when it is easier to talk and be open with my feelings to the people around me. When it gets easier to be alone for extended periods of time. It can be a very long and slow road to seeing a difference, I have been in therapy once a week for almost 3 years and I am just now feeling a difference.

 

[maddog]

Agree with all points above. In addition, I think that therapy is having a positive impact when I become more resilient to stress and acute life crises, am more aware and proactive in managing triggers and stressors, am better able to identify and utilise learned tools and strategies during difficult times and not only for "practice" during calmer times, am better able to problem solve and have insight into changes to my emotional and psychological state resulting from life issues, am more stable and integrated in my recollection and processing of trauma, am better emotionally regulated...

Ok, I'm straying into pipedream territory, and am in no way suggesting that I'm on top of all of these things, but even by small degrees, these are some of the ways in which I am able to identify positive cumulative effects of therapeutic interventions.

For me, overall progress is measured both in relation to my management and processing of past traumas, and my management and coping with daily life and the demands of being human, such as stress, relationships, emotional regulation and lifestyle.

Pity that none of these variables are quantifiably measureable...

Maddog

 

[mamachick]

Sometimes success is just maintaining the level that you are at as well. As I said, I feel like a failure as I am not feeling like I am progressing. However, I am in a place with constant adjustment and without therapy, I might have offed myself my now. So I still view it as a success. My mood is more stable than 4 yrs ago, more rational, and surviving.

 

[Meadowsweet]

Yes, I think it might be difficult to notice small steps and maybe we have to look back further to notice the longer term changes. When I was first asked what I hoped I could get from therapy, I said to be able to put my trauma into words, because I was finding that I would dissociate as soon as I tried to speak, and be unable to. I still have moments when this happens, but I have been able to speak about some things.

I'm finding at the moment that the peaks of my symptoms are as bad as ever. But they are easier to deal with than they were when I didn't know what was happening to me. Although there seems a very very long way to go until my life can become about living rather than coping and getting through.

But I've noticed that my general anxiety about day to day things seems to be less than it was. So small changes, but I want them to count.:)

 

[Ice_Fire]

Agree with all of the above. Also, a good sign for me has been a willingness and ability to socialise more, to go out with friends and be in public places with reduced anxiety.

Feeling like I can cope without therapy and not feeling as if the world has ended when we have to miss a week because my therapist is on holiday or something.

Erm, it's just little things that change slowly, like I realised that I was out shopping on my own and I wasn't watching my back every 5 seconds.

 

[Hashi]

Such a good question, and such good answers.

I agree particularly with needing to see things over time. Just seeing them at all can be difficult when we're in the day to day. I've been amazed reading old journals and seeing where I was at that time because I've actually forgotten.

I think it isn't about "how well am I doing now?" but about "how well am I doing now compared to how well I was doing before?".

And I second everything everyone else has said.