Are you wondering whether a psychologist can provide you with more help than you yourself or your family and friends? Undoubtedly, the supportive network of people that each of us has – if there is one – is crucial when we are dealing with emotional and other difficulties.

If your symptoms cause you considerable discomfort, interfere significantly with your normal routine in your everyday life functioning and do not subside despite your personal efforts and the willingness of the people that are close to you to help you, maybe it would be wiser to refer to a mental health professional.

The psychologist is not another friend with more knowledge or tricks that will relieve you. He is the scientist that has the knowledge of the workings of the psyche and the human behavior and can help you cope with mental difficulties through scientifically proven effective methods. All methods may not suit everyone and for that reason knowledge and flexibility in its use is needed.

At the same time it is important that you feel you can cooperate with your psychologist. If this is not the case, don’t hesitate to refer to someone else.

Initial Diagnosis

During the first sessions your therapist will pose specific questions regarding a wide range of your life, which aim to investigate and define the symptoms and the difficulties which you face in your daily life.

Planning the therapy

In collaboration with the therapist you will rich a conclusion and you will commit to a therapy plan which will be adjusted to your needs and will include

• The frequency and the duration of the sessions
• The goals of the therapy
• Whether or not there is a need for pharmacotherapy and its significance

The sessions

At the beginning of every session, in collaboration with the therapist, you will set your agenda, which means the issues that you will work on. This could include reviewing the previous session and the intervening time between sessions, managing emotions in specific situations, the progression towards the goal and anything that can occur in the “here and now”.

Between Sessions

“Homework”

While in session you will learn a lot about the way you think, the way your thoughts affect your feelings and in the end how your beliefs about yourself, the world around you and the future affect the way you react on a personal and interpersonal level. Nevertheless, in order to endorse the things you learn in the session you should also be able to practice them when you are alone, without your therapist. In order to accomplish that, you will need to practice outside sessions by doing what you are assigned as “homework”.

What could that include?

• To observe yourself under specific circumstances
• To record some thoughts or behaviors, for example in the form of a diary
• To try to engage in new activities or to do something that you already do in a different way
• To try out the skills you learned outside the therapy (e.g. new communication skills, assertive behavior, social skills, relaxation techniques)

• Our early experiences with our parents, siblings, close relatives and our wider environment have significantly affected the way we have learned to think and act in the present. Up to a certain degree some of your difficulties could be due to these early experiences. But the Solution to the difficulties you are facing today lies in the way you think, you feel and you act in the present.
• The therapeutic procedure will benefit from reminiscing about childhood experiences in order to find through it ways to change the way you think and in the end your behavior to the direction that you desire.