Big question.  And as far as I’m concerned there is a simple answer.  Yes.  Therapy may work very effectively.   I may listen you now though, rather rightly, shouting at your monitor, “but you’re a therapist so you’re bound to say that” so let’s see if I may convince you further.

As a therapist my starting place has to be my own experience.  I witness clients making positive changes in their lives systematically and I have also experienced these changes in my own life.  Sometimes it may take weeks for that “aha” moment to arrive, but when it does that moment can, literally, be life changing.  It was these moments, these perceptivenesses into my own ways of thinking that stimulated my interest in psychotherapy.  I was capable to use this noesis to live my life differently, to create better relationships and to change my behaviour for the better. Now, a heap of years later, I have the privilege of being let into other people’s lives to support and guide them whilst they thoroughly question their lives and make positive change.

My next step is a quick trawl around the internet.  The internetsite talkingcure gives a heap of examples of where exploration supports the idea that therapy is effective.  Most of this exploration has been carried out by health services of countries around the world to see if they are getting their monies worth out of their counselling services (money is a outstanding motivator for research!).

The following studies are just a couple of the examples included on the site:

• Chiles et al (1999) found that psychological services scaled down medical disbursements in persons who requires medical care undergoing surgery and those with a history of over utilization.  On average, there was a 20% saving, even when the cost of supplying the services was subtracted from the savings.
• Research* showed that therapy carried out with men who batter their wives proved highly successful with 60% of men not reoffending within the thirty month follow up amount of time and the wives of these men sentiment “very safe” in 83% of cases.

Smith and Glass (1977) carried out exploration into the effectiveness of dissimilar types of therapy.  Results of closely 400 controlled evaluations of psychotherapy and counselling were coded and integrated statistically. The conclusions provided convincing proof of the efficacy of psychotherapy. On the intermediate they concluded that the typical therapy client was better off than 75% of untreated individuals.  More interestingly, they found that the type of therapy received by the client had little bearing on the rate of success.  This is further proof for the idea that it is what happens amongst the client and the therapist, the kinship that forms, that is the settling factor for a successful outcome.

Martindale (1978) questions the validity of exploration into the effectiveness of psychotherapy and states that answering a question such as “does therapy work” is totally unlikely as there are too some variables.  All clients are different, all therapists are different. He argues that a therapist may be effective for one client but inefficient for another.  It’s easy to see the logic of this argument and how we recognise which therapist is best for us will be the subject of another entry at a later date.

So where have we got to so far?  Both exploration and personal experience support the idea that therapy may be useful.  I be grateful for that I have only given proof of three exploration studies but I invite you to follow my links and check out my references for dozens of studies that conclude therapy is effective.

This does not mean nevertheless that we need to run to our nearest therapist and sign up for a course of treatment!  Going into therapy is a very personal and ofttimes very frightening step for galore to take.  You take that step when you are ready to engage with the procedure and feel in your heart that it’s right for you.  I do not forget my initial session even to this day.  I arrived fifteen minutes early and “cased” the joint to see if there was any person around who would spot me going in. I gravely considered turning around and going back home!  Eventually I plucked up the courage, knocked on the door and therein started out this journey.

I think that initial step of seeking aroused aid from others may be more difficult for men than for women. This is backed up by the suicide figures for each sex where in 2008 where per 100000 of the UK population, 17.7 men committed suicide equated to just 5.4 women (age standardised rates taken from http://www.statistics.gov.uk ).  Once more, I’m sure this will feature as a subject in my future writings.

So, to conclude, I would say that yes, therapy does work.  It may be an effective means to resolve troubles as wide ranging as anxiety, stress, sexual identity, depression, lack of purpose, jealousy and a multitude of other issues that we may have whirling through our heads at queer times in our lives.  So when you’re ready, if you want to, pick up a phone and make that basi appointment.

References

Chiles, J. et al. (1999). The affect of psychological interventions on medical cost offset: a meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology, 6(2), 204-220.

Martindale, C. “The Therapist-as-Fixed-Effect Fallacy in Psychotherapy Research”. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1978, Vol. 46, No. 6, 1526-1530

*Peterson, K. (July 27, 1988). Programs support men unlearn violence. USA Today, p. 1.

Smith, M. and Glass, G. “Meta-Analysis of Psychotherapy Outcome Studies”.  American Psychologist. September 1977. p752-760.

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