Sometimes the hardest part of starting therapy is attending the first session. Due to the multiple barriers a person might have overcome to attend their first session, I've found that there is often a drive to be incredibly productive as soon as possible.
The thing is, your psychotherapist needs time to help define what are your treatment goals and what approaches might be most useful to you. Taking the time to do this well is time well spent.
Also, before starting any modality, therapists of different training backgrounds will often have standard intake questions they ask everyone. Doing so ensures they know key background information before moving forward. If you are seeing a therapist via insurance, there may also be mandated questions they must cover during their first few sessions with you.
If your therapist is also your psychiatrist, they will likely start with a standard assessment to make sure they've investigated any other reasons you might be experiencing a change in your mood or behaviors. This assessment itself could take several sessions.
In my opinion, nothing has gone awry if it takes 3-4 sessions to help define why you are in therapy and what approaches might be useful. If you are completely new to therapy, there might also need to be time set aside to provide education on how the clinic works, how therapy sessions work, and just learning about a branch of healthcare that may be new to you. You also will need some time to make sure there is a good therapeutic fit between you and the therapist. We'll cover that in my next post.
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