Why I Want to See You Weekly

“I’m feeling much better and I want to see what happens if I see you in 2 weeks. Do you think that’s alright?”

“I can’t afford to come weekly. Do you think twice a month or once every 3 weeks will be OK?”

These are complex questions. What is really being asked? How is treatment or the therapeutic relationship being perceived? A good therapist would be open to exploring rather than answering the closed ended inquiry.

Treatment or a cure requires a certain frequency and duration to be effective. Relationships entail  a desire and need to establish intimacy of the other person. I find meeting weekly allows me a connection and a wonderful opportunity to look into the depth of the person across the room. My interest is peaked and something almost spiritual happens. Because connections excite me and appeal to me. Whereas, twice a month I find my patients forget what they wanted share between meetings and just provide the newspaper headlines. This really is boring and ineffective.

Furthermore, the request to reduce frequency could be a resistance to connection or desire. My job is to make sure I’m not colluding with something on a deeper level. For instance, self-image and money could be intertwined in measuring self-worth. If part of the treatment is addressing your self-image and  I agree to spending less money on therapy, than there’s a risk in colluding that you’re not worth spending time on yourself or you have less value (even to me).

Bottom line: I am very interested in YOU on so many levels.