One could consider supportive psychotherapy a great introduction to therapy, from the perspective of the patient. But to therapists, supportive psychotherapy is one of those skillsets where master therapists make something quite difficult look simple.
Supportive therapy is frequently about a choice to meet patients where they are, with the therapist guiding the patient through introductions to concepts and techniques, without necessarily adhering to one particular psychotherapy format.
With a skilled therapist, supportive psychotherapy helps a patient make gradual progress with time, as new ideas are taught and eventually incorporated by the patient. There is no set timeline or curriculum. Instead the goal is to help patients reach new watersheds in understanding, with consistent work. These new understandings then eventually help people more effectively address their individual challenges.
So when I say master therapists make it look simple, it's because the best ones have a huge set of therapy tools in their skillset. They are therefore able to pick and choose what concepts or skills might be effective to introduce at a given time, without minding too much if they are adhering to a particular format or modality.
Frequently, a therapist may start with a supportive therapy approach, and then as they learn more about your needs and challenges, transition to a more structured modality to ensure certain ideas and skills are taught.
This type of therapy approach, delivered effectively, is in many ways becoming more rare. We will see in future posts that there are many forces pushing towards more structured therapy interactions.
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