With which categories of people can the Single Session Therapy be applied?
We recently published an article that referred to the use of SST in relation to particular problems or difficulties.
With today’s post we want to propose a further point of view, always based on the concept of applicability. That is to specify which categories of users / patients can benefit from a single meeting, without necessarily having to undertake a therapeutic path.
Furthermore, we will not take into consideration the classic categories of mental distress, such as depression, anxiety, obsessive disorders and so on, but we will give a different perspective, useful to propose Single Session Therapy.
From being an effective solution to the problem to be effective for the person
We have already talked about the effectiveness of Single Session Therapy through a multitude of researches developed around the world since the 1980s.
In this article, we will focus on particular categories of users, to illustrate the many advantages that learning and using TSS can bring to those who work in the fields of psychology, psychotherapy, psychiatry and social services in general.
This is because you have the opportunity to intervene both in new areas and in already known situations, but with a substantial difference: you can be effecient from the first session.
In the last article, we said how to integrate SST into your business in 2 ways: proposing it as a general service, to be done whenever possible, and proposing it as a service for specific problems (e.g., anxiety disorders, couple problems , relationship difficulties, etc.), on which perhaps the therapist feels more competent.
Another way to decline SST is to propose it to specific categories of users. The therapist, always personally evaluating his own skills and interests, may consider this for several reasons:
- Because he believes they can benefit more from it,
- Because, with a SST, therapist can be more able to offer them an excellent service,
- Because he thinks that this service is what that kind of people is asking for,
- or for all these and other reason.
So let’s see some examples.
Examples of applicability of the SST for different categories of users
1 – Family
Contrary to what one might think, the use of SST in family contexts is widespread.
In an article published a few weeks ago on our blog, we talked about the Jewish Family Service in Ottawa, a walk-in counseling clinic, where counseling and support is practiced without an appointment. We could give many other examples in this sense, such as the Bouverie Center in Australia, where Single Session Family Consultation has been used for many years.
Regardless if there is or not a specialized center, such as those mentioned above, you can still broaden your professional skills by integrating Single Session Therapy for families in your own private practice. In this case, it is possible to offer families a single session service to give support in different situations.
2 – Students
Often academic struggles are a burden for boys and girls, who could greatly benefit from a therapist, who can help them solve doubts and complications even in a single session.
Through a single session, a therapist can explore and act directly on all the areas that influence the student and his progress, favoring the release of resources and the use of strategies more effective than in the past.
Furthermore, a single session allows the student not to feel in a classic therapeutic setting, different from the school, sports, friends and family contexts in which he usually finds himself. We also remember that proposing a SST does not mean “seeing each other once and then stop”.
It means adopting a methodology that allows you to maximize each meeting: at any time, the person can return even weeks, months or even years away, for new problems and, in general, to ask for new support.
3 – The life cycle
When we go through the various stages of life, especially as we approach old age (for example, retiring), our personality can suffer severe repercussions, to which a therapist who uses SST can respond quickly.
Not being contemplated particular psychological difficulties (obsessions, phobias etc.) most of the time we can unblock the situation with a few focused maneuvers, drawing on the resources (or showing how to develop them) of the person.
It is then up to the therapist to identify, on the basis of their skills, the phases of the life cycle, and the contingent elements, in which SST can be useful to people. Think about how useful it can be to provide Single Session supports in delicate phases such as:
– retirement
– marriage or divorce
– the exit of children from the family unit or their entry into schools
– the choice of a transfer or a change of job
– etc.
4 – Migrants, political refugees, victims of attacks or wars etc.
Political refugees, people fleeing war, men and women who have escaped an environmental catastrophe, etc. represent a major challenge for operators who welcome such stories. Most of the time the possibility of meeting is unique, given the logistical difficulties and the continuous movements to which these people are subjected (aggravating their suffering even more).
With the “classic” psychotherapeutic methodologies, in which the diagnosis can already take several sessions, the only possibility is to collect those stories, without reaching a real insight, or a cognitive restructuring.
Through the SST we can give back from the first (and only) interview useful tools to face the next step, and maybe even the next one. We can, right from the start, mobilize the necessary resources, in a context in which often it will not be possible to have other sessions.
5- Psychological wellbeing
Often the request made to a mental health professional does not concern usual psychological problems (phobias, depression etc.). There is a large category of users who are looking for “psychological well-being” and who are not willing to undertake long and expensive therapeutic paths (read here).
In all these situations, the use of Single Session Therapy has a double advantage:
a – Results can be achieve in a short time. If I am looking for well-being, to unblocking a difficult situation or an uncertain relationship, or to achieving a goal that I am struggling for, etc., then I will want all of this immediately. Clearly, a single session is not always sufficient: sometimes a short therapy is necessary, sometimes even a longer path. However, through a Single Session Therapy we can, from the first meeting, satisfy many requests and needs.
b- Offer a “blinking therapy”. Life hides behind every crossroads difficulties that can undermine our wellbeing. With a single session therapy service, people can count on a professional who offers them immediate help, if necessary, without the need to connect the previous therapy with the current one.This offers considerable possibilities for intervention for psycologist and health professionals.
6 – Professionals, managers, businessman, etc.
Work is a particularly important (and pressing) aspect in many people’s lives.
Often we are faced with difficult choices, as well as at particularly delicate moments, in which tensions, indecisions or other problems can develop. Situations that can be easily faced and resolved thanks to a good Single Session Therapy.
Many managers, professionals, or other professional figures will undoubtedly find stimulating to be able to confront themselves with another professional, trained to face the problem promptly and pragmatically. We can say that we speak the same language with this particular category of users, which, on the contrary, could find greater distance with a strictly psychological communication.
Conclusions
Of course, many other examples can come to mind and we invite the reader to think about them based on their own experience.
I would like to conclude with a short quote because, regardless of the problems or categories of users we have to deal with, I believe it is always useful to keep in mind what has been said below.
“I wonder if it is really possible to understand another person perfectly. Even when we try and put all the effort, how much can we see his true nature? Do we know what is truly essential about the other, that we are convinced we understand so well? “
Murakami Haruki
Pier Paolo D’Alia
Psychologist
Team of Italian Center for Single Session Therapy