This post was inspired by an advertisement for a new training in “one-session therapy”. Like, therapy in one meeting. If this exists, why do we even need therapy, which we have been going to for years and regularly? Let’s think about what can actually be done in one hour? What can you do with your body in the gym in an hour? Two options are drawn: to improve it a little, or to injure it. What kind of relationships can you build in an hour? At best, friendly, but most likely nothing. In an hour you can prepare soup, which you already know how to cook, but it is impossible to learn haute cuisine. We come to therapy to rethink ourselves, our lives, the relationships in which we are. What experience can make you rethink this in an hour? Only (near-)traumatic. For example, you almost crashed on a plane and your whole life is before your eyes - rethinking is guaranteed. You found out that your partner has been cheating on you for six months or your mother got cancer - these relationships will be rethought. But, firstly, at what cost. Secondly, often this rethinking is not sustainable - after a couple of years (or even months) everything returns to normal. In one meeting you may feel better, but this does not mean that therapy has happened. Therapy is about lasting, profound changes. They require investments of various kinds: mental, temporary, material. And, of course, it’s a pity that it’s like this. I would like magic, to be the absolute author of my life - just as I wanted, everything changed at once. But the psyche needs time, it has its own defenses, resistances, the symptom (in the broad sense of the word) makes sense and is needed for something. If you get rid of a symptom abruptly, then either a new symptom will appear in its place, or disintegration will occur. Let’s say, your symptom - a relationship with a cold, rejecting partner. After 1 session, an “insight” happened - that’s it, you have to quit it. Without further therapy, most likely, there will either be a period of euphoria, and then you will find yourself in a relationship with the same cold partner, but with a different name. Or there will be a depressive period that will end with a return to the ex-partner. In addition to the reasoning of the article, I believe in the work of other, shorter-term methods (CBT, EMDR, counseling, etc.). But the division into long-term and short-term methods is not based on the principle “How quickly will it help?” but according to the principle “What can it help with?” If the goal is very specific, a short-term method can help with it. If the goal is global, then it is worth turning to long-term therapy. But if you try to fit a global task into a short period of time from the category of “become a leader in 1 meeting”, “a million in an hour”, “harmonize a personality in 1 training”. Then you can be disappointed or overstrained (injured). This is why famous trainings, coaching sessions, etc. have such conflicting reviews. It helped someone, someone wasted their money, and someone was injured. To avoid this, psychoanalytic therapy moves gradually: with respect for the client’s pace and the structure of both his specific psyche and the mental apparatus in the person. In addition, it is in long-term work that one can fully interact not only on a conscious, but also on an unconscious level. And he, as a rule, makes a big contribution to any symptom/request. Therefore, walking for a long time and regularly is necessary so that the changes are safe, digested and sustainable. Sign up for a consultation: 89834644664 Sincerely, Litvinenko K. S.