How Many Therapy Sessions Will I Need?

One of the most frequently asked questions I get from potential clients is “How many therapy sessions will I need?”. This is a more complicated question to answer than you might think, and there isn’t one single “magic number” that will apply to everyone.

If this is something you’re wondering about, this post will highlight some other important questions you can ask yourself that will give you a better idea of what the “right” answer might be for you.

So without further ado, let’s get into it!

Why are you looking for therapy?

An obvious but essential place to start is to ask yourself why you’re looking for therapy in the first place. If you have a specific issue that you’d like to work through, you may only need a few sessions, possibly 2-8. Having a clear insight into why you’re looking for therapy is likely to provide you with a focus for the sessions you have, so you’re more likely to need fewer of them.

If you’re unsure exactly what it is that you’d like to work through, therapy is likely to be more “open-ended” as we say in the therapy world. This means that there isn’t an absolutely set number of sessions that you’ll need, as the issues you’d like to work through are likely to come up in their own time. It may still be that you only need a few sessions, but there’s a possibility that it will move into longer-term work over time.

Is there a particular type of therapy that appeals to you?

There are hundreds of different types of therapy, and they all work in slightly different ways and recommend different amounts of sessions. For example, “traditional” psychoanalysis (of Freud & Co. fame) is usually offered on a long-term basis (think years, not weeks!), and may encourage multiple sessions per week too. It’s a highly intensive process, and requires a huge commitment in both time and money to be feasible.

At the other end of the scale are approaches like Solution-Focused therapy, which is more “goal-orientated”, and shares a lot of similarities with coaching. The client and therapist will work together to identify the key goal (or goals) that the client wants to achieve, and will use that to determine how many sessions are likely to be needed. This might be the right option for you if you know exactly what it is that you’d like to work on, and are able to commit to continuing to work on things outside the sessions.

If you’re not sure what approach is best for you and what you’d like to get out of therapy, I would suggest that you get in touch with a few different therapists and see who you feel a connection with, and feel able to open up to. I would argue that the relationship between therapist and client is the most important thing, regardless of the therapist’s approach, so it’s more likely that therapy will be effective if you get on well with your therapist.

Would you prefer a structure or more flexibility?

Some therapists will put a limit on the maximum number of sessions they can offer, and this may be because of the approach they use, other commitments they have, or because they simply don’t want to offer open-ended therapy. This can be helpful for clients because it gives a clear “end point” for the work, and can enable them to focus on what they really want to work on right from the start, which can be useful for those who are especially goal-orientated.

Other therapists (like me!) don’t put a limit on the maximum number of sessions, and instead are guided by what the client feels would be best, as well as what naturally comes up in the work. This can be helpful for clients who aren’t used to having freedom and choice to decide what’s best for them, as it can be incredibly empowering to know that you can have as many (or as few) sessions as feels right for you.

You might prefer to see your therapist at the same time on the same day every week for a set number of weeks, then have a break, and then do another “block”. Or you might work irregular hours or have other commitments that you need to juggle that mean you need to have sessions at different times and on different days each time, and you can’t guarantee that you can attend on a weekly basis. The best thing to do is to check out what the therapist can offer, and see if your availability matches up with theirs in a way that works for both of you.

How much time, energy and money are you willing to commit to therapy?

This is something to give serious thought to if you are specifically considering accessing therapy privately, i.e. you will be paying for sessions yourself, rather than through a third-party like your employer, or going through the NHS. Obviously not everyone is in a position to do this for all sorts of reasons, but even if you’re looking into therapy options that are available through the NHS or a low-cost service, you will still need to think about whether you’re in a place to be able to attend sessions regularly enough to be able to benefit from them.

Therapy is an energetic commitment, and people are often surprised by how much they need to put into it to find it effective. You’ll often be exploring patterns and processes that you’ve developed over many years, and spend a lot of time working with your therapist to unpick their origins and decide whether to make some changes that reflect where you want to go. Delving in and out of your stuff and bringing lots of things into your awareness is likely to feel heavy for a while, but if you stick with it, you’ll move past that and into something awesome.

I hope that this post has given you some useful things to think about if you’re wondering how many therapy sessions you might need. There really isn’t a “right” answer, but if you use these questions as a guide, you’ll be able to start narrowing down the options in a way that reflects where you are now, and where you’d like to be.

As ever, if you’re interested in working with me, feel free to get in touch and let’s see if we’re a good fit. You can contact me: using the form at the bottom of the page; via email to emma@emmapooleytherapy.com, or on Facebook and Instagram @emmapooleytherapy.