Does anyone know what a successful therapy timeline looks like?

[persistentheartache]

Like the title says, what's the timeline of successful therapy look like? I understand healing isn't linear. there will be ups and downs. relapse happens. pain, suffering, and loss, still happen.

Is there an observable or predictable timeline for people that recover? I hear often that outcomes are optimistic and better than just being "ok" again. that people can go on to live fulfilling lives worth living. but what does that journey look like?

I don't mean specifics because I understand everyone's journey is different but like from a broad scope. like I hear that things often get worse before they get better. I'm about a month and a half into individual dbt and three and a half months into my dbt skills group. I understand that I'm still early in things, and that there will be days where it feels like therapy is great and other days where it feels hopeless. todays one of those days :p

I'd like to hear the experiences of people at different points in their journey. And people who have been able to move on and be happy, if there are any on this board who are willing to share.

 

[Yuri440]

It definitely differs between the kinds of therapy. Personally I've done bits of CBT, DBT, RODBT, and CAT. Unfortunately two weren't suitable and the other two didn't do anything so we stopped after a few months. I still occasionally do DBT workbooks around neurodiversity for my autism, but it's hit or miss. The therapists at the place I get help from say they typically do around 3 to 6 months of sessions which entirely depend on the person.

Of course don't let my unsuccessful attempts at therapy push you away from it. That shit is gonna be super hard to work through, and honestly it's worth trying at the very least I think <3

 

[roseberry]

I'm sorry you're experiencing one of those hard days

I just started therapy, so I can't really speak from experience of how healing will look like yet. But I did ask my counselor about this.

They stressed that I needed to set my expectations and understand that it's going to be hard. They said crying is normal, and that apparently feeling more depressed can ironically be a good sign sometimes, as it means your beginning to process through difficult emotions.

So I imagine not everyday is going to be easy. Somedays you'll probably feel like quitting and giving up, I think that might just be part of the process. Though if this ended up being a consistent feeling that didn't go away then I might also consider changing therapists.

Hope you start to feel better soon