There is a common misconception that therapy needs to be a lifetime subscription, like a weekly rental payment for a place to vent and answer questions like, “how does it make you feel?”.
That is not what I do.
I am not looking for a long-term tenant in my schedule.
I want you out of my office and back in your life as soon as possible.
My approach is designed to be efficient because we target the mechanism driving the symptom rather than just talking about the history of it. However, the nervous system is complex.
Because we aren’t spending years digging into your past or analyzing your childhood, our work tends to be much (so very much) shorter than traditional talk therapy. We are focused on the mechanics: finding the signal that triggers your reaction and stopping it.
That being said, the honest answer is that your nervous system doesn’t run on a whatever standard schedule I can come up with.
Some people are done in a handful of sessions; others find that peeling back the layers takes a bit longer. Both paths are valid, as long as we are moving forward.
I structure my practice to support this reality. After the initial phase of our work together, I actually lower my session fee.
This might seem counterintuitive, but it serves as a safeguard against complacency. I established this policy years ago when I was working with a group of other therapists in my business. It was my way of ensuring that nobody in the office had a financial incentive to drag out sessions.
I still believe this is simply good, honest practice. If you are still in my office after a few months, it must be because we are doing deep, necessary work and not because therapy has become a comfortable, expensive habit for either of us.
Often, once we clear the immediate “fire” that brought you in—the panic, the pain, or the compulsion—we discover deeper layers that were previously hidden from your conscious mind. You might decide you want to resolve those, too. Or not, which shortens the time we spend together.
As soon as we break the restrictive loops and your mind adopts a new default response, you shouldn’t need me anymore.