What is a Therapy Goal

Our last two posts have been about going after dreams and setting goals to get there. Those are excellent things to focus on, however how to I work toward deeper goals such as decreasing my anxiety or not being triggered as often. The difference between a regular goal, and a therapeutic goal is what this post is about. Often when starting therapy your provider will ask what type of goals you have for therapy. Clients will often say things like “I want to feel better” or “I want to heal”. These are excellent starting points. And just like with SMART guidelines for life goals, we also break down therapeutic goals in a similar, albeit different way.

To start breaking these goals down, no matter what you are coming to therapy to deal with is to think about what you want to decrease, and what you want to increase. In general terms, which could look like I want to lessen the amount of stress I feel and increase my ability to manage what I can’t lessen.

Let’s get even more specific. For an example we will imagine that I am going to therapy because of depression and not being able to motivate myself to do the things I used to enjoy doing. In this scenario it is important to think about my current way of managing depression (my coping strategies) and figure out if they are helping the situation or not.

However, keep in mind that you do not have to come to therapy with this all mapped out. A part of a therapist’s job is to help you turn a simple desire such as “I want to feel better”, into a thought-out game plan to help you achieve your goals.

Getting back to the example scenario, after figuring out what behaviors I want to decrease (i.e.: overthinking, or catastrophizing) we will also investigate what I want to increase. Maybe I want to increase my motivation or increase the type of coping skills that I use in times of distress.

It is important to keep in mind that there does not need to be a 15 point plan of action when coming to therapy. Often it is working with someone who can turn our jumbled mess of spaghetti brain into neat and tidy topics that are easier to sort through and communicate.

You’ve got this.