Online Therapy for Physician Burnout: Progress in Therapy

When I’m talking with people during a free consultation, I’m often asked how long therapy will take. I wrote a blog about that and in this blog will delve more deeply into this topic. Just like how barbeque takes as long as it takes, therapy takes as long as it takes.

Therapy is not a linear process. A person does not go from point A to point B to point C. It doesn’t work like that. There are many factors at play and the human mind is complex. We don’t fully understand how the mind truly works. Unlike science, where you can complete control of experiments to determine outcomes, psychology has too many variables. Great therapy is an art and a science.

As I discuss in the previous blog, there are the individual differences between people. What works for one person may not work for the other. Interventions hit differently for different people. Your therapist should make a custom treatment plan tailored to your needs. If progress isn’t being made, changes to the treatment plan should be considered.  This isn’t a knock on the therapist or the client; it’s the standard baseline treatment plan. A therapist has a general idea of what treatment looks like and as they gather more information, treatment may change based on the new knowledge. These individual differences can make progress in therapy unpredictable and nonlinear. In my own practice, I keep track of outcomes and the length of treatment for clients. I have a general overall idea of what progress looks like for my clients but again, everyone is different and will make strides at different rates.

Time in therapy will depend on the time and effort from the individual client as well as the therapist. Therapy can be emotionally draining and challenging.  It involves deep exploration of emotions and self reflection. It may also require adopting new ways of thinking, such as through the use of the cognitive-behavioral triangle or reframing.  Many of my clients develop new coping skills to better manage their stressors. Many clients also must come to terms with the difficult choices they must make. Working through difficult emotional and behavioral issues is not easy. Progress in therapy can involve slow periods, setbacks, or plateaus before the magic happens. It’s a unique and different experience and journey for each person.

If you’ve read the blogs about how to find a therapist, you know how important I believe the therapeutic relationship or ‘fit’ is. The relationship between a client and their therapist plays a significant role in the effectiveness of therapy. The level of trust, rapport, and mutual respect between the client and therapist is crucial.  There is also the fit in terms of the therapist’s treatment style and how well it fits with the client’s needs. If you don’t have the right fit, you are wasting your time, energy and money. If you don’t have the right fit, you won’t see the results that you are looking for. This is why I always offer a free consultation- to ensure that we are the right fit for each other.  

The last factor in how long therapy will take is the impact of life factors. Most people spend only an hour per week in therapy. That means you have 167 hours outside of therapy. The real work happens outside of the therapy office. Life factors include events, your social support circle, and overall life circumstances. You may face challenges in life that are even greater than the ones that brought you into therapy.  These other challenges can prevent you from fully engaging in therapy because they take priority. If everything is going perfect in life, therapy can feel easy.  If your world is going up in flames, therapy may seem to be at a standstill.

Go into therapy understanding that it’s not a linear process. Expect times of great gains and times of slow struggle. It’s all part of the process. Overall, it’s important to recognize you set goals with your therapist, are tracking progress, and are making adjustments as needed. Therapy takes time. Trust the process.

Reach out for Therapy for Physician Burnout

Address your physician burnout with therapy with Chris Rabanera. Take the first steps with a free 15-minute consultation. I provide online therapy in California, online therapy in Michigan, online therapy in Nebraska, and online therapy in Las Vegas. As an experienced therapist, I specialize in physician burnout, grief counseling, anxiety, and depression. I also provide mental health treatment for men.