Recently, a question was asked on one of the forums - why do we need long-term psychotherapy? There is hypnosis, NLP, DPG , a few meetings - and the question is answered. No need to go once a week for months, or even years…
Despite the apparent simplicity, the question is interesting. Of course, everything depends on the problem, and, for example, it is possible to make a responsible choice in one or several meetings. Colleagues expressed themselves, to the best of their ability and free time. For myself, I found a metaphor, here it is.
The man stopped a working chainsaw with his hands, blood, pain, shock. It is possible to talk to him about the rules and techniques of work, safety precautions at this moment, but it is inhumane and weakly effective . He can bleed to death, and it is important to treat the wounds first. The same DPDG works , any short-term therapy. After this, the client leaves quite capable and with a certain experience . In the future, he can, using the experience gained:
- never saw again;
- do not approach trees;
- shy away from chainsaws, people with saws, people who look like lumberjacks;
- shy away from people selling saws, who look like saw merchants;
- and also from everything that has a chain, hums or has teeth:)
If such behavior does not interfere with the client's life, he does not need long-term therapy. But if it does interfere, then we need to sort it out.
Or here's what my colleagues liked:
"If you want to follow the principle of "he did something to me", then 20 minutes on the phone will be enough . That is, do not get involved - do not think, do not worry, do nothing, then the techniques, the shorter and more obscure - are the best."
"It's not a fact that after such a quick "deliverance" the problem will not pop up again in a similar situation. Long is for learning yourself, and not running to an uncle."
"It is probably worth distinguishing between adaptive techniques that teach you to run quickly on crutches, command parades of your cockroaches, and rehabilitation techniques, when a person learns to do without crutches at all, and says goodbye to cockroaches forever (most often, to each cockroach personally:)".
And a quote from the remarkable Odessa psychologist A. Mokhovikov , who, alas, passed away this year: "Therapy is care, and you can only care about something holistic. If you water a houseplant, you care for the plant as a whole, not just one leaf or stem. It is important that the result is a holistic effect - the plant grows. In the same way, a psychotherapist cares either for a specific person or for a group. And in this sense, psychotherapy is a purely individual, unique project for each client, even in a group. Unlike psychotherapists, psychotechnologists train one skill, and the holistic is not taken into account."
And, in conclusion, I want to say - long-term therapy is if it doesn't work quickly. If it works quickly - that's wonderful.