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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 15 of 15. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Speaker on April 11, 2004, at 16:35:36
I started going to therapy once a week for 1 hr. Then my T said since it took me so long to settle in he would like to meet with me two hrs. I started with a new T 6 mo. ago and he started with 2x a wk. at 1 hr. Then he wanted to go 1hr one session and 2hrs the second session. This is very costly and my ins. only pays 50%. How often do most of you go???
Posted by lucy stone on April 11, 2004, at 17:12:10
In reply to How Frequent is Therapy?, posted by Speaker on April 11, 2004, at 16:35:36
My T says that if you have something you need to talk about it helps to talk about it more often. I'm in analysis and see my T 4X/week. It is takes alot of time and is very expensive. My insurance pays for 26 sessions a year, but I also use a medical savings account. I can have money withheld from my check pretax and use it to pay for therapy. It brings down my gross income and helps to pay for my analysis.
Posted by noa on April 11, 2004, at 21:01:32
In reply to Re: How Frequent is Therapy?, posted by lucy stone on April 11, 2004, at 17:12:10
I go twice a week for 50 minutes each. Started out at once a week, then when things got really rough, increased to twice. Things are better now, and I've thought about decreasing to once a week, but I realize that it does add something in terms of continuity. I raised it recently--the idea of going back to once a week. But I am not in a rush to do so. Raising the idea brought up a lot of material about how I use therapy, etc., which has been good discussion.
Posted by Dinah on April 11, 2004, at 22:56:19
In reply to Re: How Frequent is Therapy?, posted by noa on April 11, 2004, at 21:01:32
Noa, I'd be interested in hearing more about how you use therapy when you're feeling better. I always get this urge to drop to fewer than twice a week when I'm feeling good, because I sometimes feel like I'm struggling to make conversation during sessions during those times. But my therapist thinks that the twice a week sessions give me a needed stability. I would think he just liked the income stream, but I do think he's right in that I have been way more stable since I've been on a twice a week schedule so I don't really want to risk my stability. On the other hand, I would like to use the time better.
Do you have trouble thinking of anything to say when you're feeling well? Or do you work on issues that you don't tackle when you're feeling poorly.
I think my therapist doesn't want to do that. He wants me to just enjoy feeling better and not bring up "issues". But that leaves me a bit.... bored. I guess we're not meant to be best buds or anything.
Posted by rainyday on April 12, 2004, at 8:46:39
In reply to How Frequent is Therapy?, posted by Speaker on April 11, 2004, at 16:35:36
The frequency of my visits depends on whether I am in crisis or doing better. It ranges from 1 x week to once every 2 weeks right now. My therapist does not take any insurance but I consider it the best money I could spend. Sessions are 1 hour. She also has a standing order with me if I need her in between sessions, I can call and leave a message and she calls me back within a day.
Posted by Penny on April 12, 2004, at 9:02:56
In reply to How Frequent is Therapy?, posted by Speaker on April 11, 2004, at 16:35:36
I see my T twice a week for 45 minute sessions. She's totally available to me in between sessions too, however, by phone and email. But my insurance plan is very liberal - grants 26 sessions a year then the practitioner can request additional visits and is almost never denied. My former T didn't ever want to see me more than once a week, though she did want to see me no less than once a week either.
Personally, I think I benefit a great deal from twice weekly therapy.
P
Posted by Penny on April 12, 2004, at 9:10:38
In reply to Re: How Frequent is Therapy? » noa, posted by Dinah on April 11, 2004, at 22:56:19
Dinah,
For me, personally, I find that therapy when I'm feeling bad ends up being more 'supportive' and is not conducive to getting to the root of some of the issues I'd hoped to explore in therapy (i.e. my problems with men, body image issues, etc.).
Those issues have the power to make me depressed, so when I'm already depressed, it's not helpful to try to deal with them. Not to mention that my thinking is even more skewed when I'm severely depressed.
Right now, since I've been doing *better* (not great, but not terrible), I've been able to face those issues a bit more that I can't even think about when I'm severely depressed. I think I'm able to look at things a bit more rationally, but I'm not feeling so good that I can't tap into those painful emotions that are beneficial to therapy.
'Course, when I tried this in therapy with my former T, I would always slip and end up depressed again. I haven't yet decided what the difference is now - meds? different T? greater resiliency on my part? who knows...
P
Posted by noa on April 12, 2004, at 9:18:36
In reply to Re: How Frequent is Therapy? » noa, posted by Dinah on April 11, 2004, at 22:56:19
Well, one of the things that happens a lot is that since my appointment is right after work, and I am usually rushing from work to the appointment, I come in with a lot of workaday stress to unload. But then I become very aware that I'm ending up talking about work more than myself. So lately I've been trying to use the workday unloading to go more in the direction of my internal stuff rather than just venting or kind of analyzing all the other people and the organizational dynamics, etc.
It's interesting because if I have an appointment once in a while when not coming directly from work, it is often very different. If I've been out sick, for physical or mental health reasons, I might be somewhat depressed and the tone of the session is so different. I often don't like how those sessions go, because I feel kind of mired and stuck. Once, recently, I took a mental health day off and actually lost track of the time and realized I wouldn't make it in to my appointment. So I called and left a message telling him I wasn't going to make it to the session. As it happens, one of the reasons I had lost track of time was because during the afternoon, I had started thinking about something that upset me from an email I received, and I was kind of getting into obsessing about how to respond, etc. So when my therapist called back, we ended up having the session by phone which isn't what I expected would happen (yes, he did charge me for it, which I would expect him to). It was helpful.
So, the issue of what I focus on is an ongoing issue. Sometimes we talk about health-building kinds of things--ie, now that I'm not in the throes of deep depression, what are the things that could make my quality of life better, etc. etc. Little goals and such. And the same old going over and over the old issues and the ways I resist change etc.
But as I said, mostly, I come in with a lot on my mind from the stress of the work day and that is what dominates most of the time.
Posted by terrics on April 12, 2004, at 11:25:39
In reply to How Frequent is Therapy?, posted by Speaker on April 11, 2004, at 16:35:36
I go once a week. However last yr. I completely unravelled so I went twice a week. She also called me every morning when I was a mess. terrics
Posted by Speaker on April 12, 2004, at 13:18:26
In reply to Re: How Frequent is Therapy? » Speaker, posted by terrics on April 12, 2004, at 11:25:39
Did she charge you for each call. Was it arranged that she would call. This gives me a bit of hope that it isn't all T's the have such a guideline that they don't help on an individual basis.
Posted by noa on April 12, 2004, at 13:23:01
In reply to Re: Therapy when you're feeling better » Dinah, posted by Penny on April 12, 2004, at 9:10:38
My experience is similar to Penny's.
The reason we first increased my sessions to twice a week was because at the time I was in need of crisis stabilization, essentially. I was very depressed, had some difficult stuff happening in my life, etc. etc.
The reason I've continued to go twice a week now that I'm stable and less depressed is that it does help facilitate the continuity, which can make it a bit easier to deal with the deep down stuff, or to at least pick up on themes that were mentioned in the preveious session.
Posted by DaisyM on April 12, 2004, at 13:47:30
In reply to Re: How Frequent is Therapy? » Speaker, posted by terrics on April 12, 2004, at 11:25:39
I go 2 or 3x a week and when in crisis, I've gone 4 straight days. Trust and accessing help are my major issues and I get all twisted up when we are working on past trauma. This is the first time I'm telling, so I have no comparison to what it might be like to talk about all this stuff if you've talked about it before. If I fall apart, he has me come back to put me together.
I've also found that the frequency allows me to stay with a subject instead of restarting over and over again. The danger is that darn dependency stuff. I fight it. He wants me to face that fear so when I start making noise about seeing him too much, he has me come more. He says, "I know this freaks you out on some level but..." Yup!
I should also say I have very flexible insurance so it isn't horrible expensive. I do sometimes think about the shoes I could be buying instead...
Posted by terrics on April 12, 2004, at 14:04:19
In reply to I'm Amazed! » terrics, posted by Speaker on April 12, 2004, at 13:18:26
Hi, No she did not charge me for any calls, and yes they were pre-arranged. I think she was afraid I'd do something stupid. She said she would call until I said it was no longer necessary. Funny, I never thought that was odd. terrics
Posted by Penny on April 12, 2004, at 14:14:59
In reply to Re: I'm Amazed! » Speaker, posted by terrics on April 12, 2004, at 14:04:19
My T called me daily for a while, no extra charge. She was concerned about me as I was going through a really rough time - she even called me from NY when she was on a trip. It's wonderful when they're so devoted to the job and to caring about their clients.
P
Posted by mair on April 12, 2004, at 15:20:31
In reply to Re: How Frequent is Therapy?, posted by DaisyM on April 12, 2004, at 13:47:30
I used to go once a week, but I've been going twice a week for quite awhile. We increased sessions during a time when I was in pretty awful shape, and I think my therapist felt that we were spending so much time on the crisis du jour, that there was no time to actually work on anything in a more constructive way. However, I'm a lot more stable now and she's explained that the more frequent meetings are pretty necessary if we're going to explore the transference issues she thinks are important.
I have pretty decent insurance benefits - after a fairly high deductable, my company covers 80% of the company's approved amount. Since my therapist charges more than the approved amount and since she isn't a participating provider with my insurer, I end up paying more like a third of the actual bill. This sure beats the alternative of not being able to choose my therapist or of being limited in the number of sessions I could have. I really get concerned when I'm faced with the prospect of being switched to a policy which mandates that I use a preferred provider, or which would limit the number of sessions I could have.
Mair
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