What is Individual Therapy? How It Works, Benefits, & FAQs
Individual therapy, also known as talk therapy, involves speaking one-on-one with a professional regarding personal challenges and goals.
Since the late 19th century, psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, and counselors have used “talking” or individual therapy as a way to understand and treat various mental, emotional, and behavioral issues.
While the style and methods of “talk therapy” have changed significantly in the last few hundred years, the premise remains the same: if we can talk about what we’re thinking and feeling, we can gain insight and understanding that helps us accept, heal, and grow.
In 2022 alone, more than 55 million people in the United States sought talk therapy. And researchers suggest that there are more than 400 styles of psychotherapy that people can choose from.
This article will teach you some basics of individual therapy, explain a few variations of this mental health treatment, and help you identify realistic goals you might expect to achieve in the process.
What is individual therapy?
Individual therapy is the process by which an educated, trained, and licensed mental health professional talks with you about your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to help you heal and grow
Typically, the goals of individual therapy are to understand, accept, and improve aspects of a person’s life that are challenging, difficult to change, or that may never change.
The aspects of our lives that we may seek to address in individual therapy are often quite varied. In general, people seek therapy to feel better, improve their quality of life, and/or develop coping strategies to navigate parts of their lives.
Individual therapy may also be referred to as counseling, psychotherapy, talk therapy, and more. Most often, they all refer to the same mental health treatment, even if the approach is different.
Here’s a high-level list of reasons/mental health diagnoses that may inspire someone to consider individual therapy:
Anxiety
Addiction
Attention
Behavior
Depression
Eating
Mood
Neurodivergence
Oppression
Personality
Relationships
Substance Abuse
Sleep
Trauma
What to expect in individual therapy?
In most types of individual therapy, you can expect to build a trusting, safe relationship with a mental health professional who is confident they can help you reach your goals. Although there are myriad approaches to effective individual counseling, you’ll want to make sure that you hire a therapist whose strategies will work for you.
Let’s look at this a bit more…
Extensive and consistent research shows that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is significantly linked to the success of the mental health treatment. That said, here are a few ideas you might consider as you choose a therapist who could be a great fit for you:
They take your insurance and/or their fee is accessible to you
Their available hours, days, and location work with your schedule and needs
Their website gives you a clear sense of their practice, experience, and potential to support you
They have education, training, and experience working with issues that you want to work through
They clearly communicate with you and invite you to ask any questions that would help you better understand them, their practice, and what may be expected of you
They ask you questions that help you think about why you are reaching out to them
I mentioned earlier that some articles identify more than 400 different ways to approach individual therapy. While that is a lot of different approaches, most of them integrate a few core elements.
In the section below, I’ll expand on a few types of individual therapy to give you a better idea of what may appeal to you or what you might like to learn more about.
Types of Individual Therapy
Different types of individual therapy have emerged for various reasons. Usually, they all begin with a mental health professional who became an expert on a particular mental health condition. These scholars study conditions and develop treatments that will help remedy or relieve symptoms. These treatments are tested through research, and when proven effective, they become an evidence-based treatment approach.
In reality, many therapists integrate elements of more than one treatment approach, as research shows that adapting theories to meet the nuanced needs of unique individuals is helpful.
Below, I’ll discuss common types of individual therapy that lay the groundwork for most of the variations:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an extremely popular approach to individual therapy. Similar to how it sounds, CBT assesses the relationship between a person's cognitions (thoughts) and behaviors.
CBT therapists believe that how we think influences how we feel and what we do. Under that premise, if we can challenge what we think or think about things differently and perhaps even more accurately, we will be able to make different behavioral choices.
This approach is very here-and-now oriented. It is not a deep dive into the past, nor does it particularly focus on the relationship between the mental health professional and the client.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic Therapy is a depth-oriented kind of individual counseling. It conceptualizes clients as made up of both conscious (that which we are aware of) and unconscious (that which we are unaware of) thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
This therapy approach is based on the premise that deep exploration of our experience can help us understand more about what might be going on unconsciously. When we can become more aware of our unconscious, we can make better sense of who we are, why we choose or don’t choose what we do, and more.
Psychodynamic therapy places heavy emphasis on the quality of the relationship between the therapist and client, which is often considered a parallel to relationships the client has in other parts of their life.
Person-Centered Therapy
A person-centered approach to therapy is a humanistic strategy for individual counseling. It prioritizes the mental health professional’s relationship with the client.
While all therapists strive to be open and warm to clients, person-centered therapists are exceptionally oriented to delivering compassion, unconditional positive regard, and empathy.
The belief is that people who have been relationally injured and/or have a difficult time caring for themselves can significantly benefit from the authentic delivery of these relationship qualities. This can also help us to heal parts of ourselves that keep us from progressing in various parts of our lives.
Family Therapy
At first read, it might be confusing to think of family therapy as a type of individual counseling, but it is!
Family therapy can happen with just one person and is great for people who are struggling to understand who they are in the context of their family relationships. It’s also great for individuals who struggle with loved ones who aren’t alive, available, or willing to engage in family therapy together. Family therapy for individuals helps us make sense of where we’ve come from, what we learned and didn’t learn in our families, and how that informs who we are in our relationships today.
Choosing the Right Kind of Individual Therapy
If you’re enjoying learning about the types of individual therapy but feeling overwhelmed about which one you might benefit from, rest assured – that makes sense. Choosing a type of therapy can feel really complicated.
Here are a few questions you might ask yourself as you consider a type of therapy:
Do any of the types I have read about appeal to me or pique my interest?
Does it seem like there is a type of therapy that is best for my particular issue(s)?
How did I feel, and what did I notice in my body when I read about each type?
Do I know anyone who has done individual therapy, and have they shared how they experienced it?
Do I want to consider a therapist who integrates many types of individual therapy so I can reap the benefits of more than one approach?
Am I looking for a therapist who takes my insurance, or am I willing to pay out-of-pocket?
How is individual therapy effective?
Individual therapy is effective when realistic expectations are set and clear goals are identified with a therapist whose approach matches your needs.
Statistics illustrate that more than 75% of people who choose talk therapy experience some benefit. While these benefits are wide-ranging, how effective it is for you depends on you, what you’re looking for, how realistic it is, and how expert the therapist is in helping clients achieve those particular goals.
Benefits of Individual Therapy
The benefits of individual therapy depend significantly on what you hope to gain from it.
Here is a general list of common therapy benefits:
Increased ability to articulate your thoughts and feelings
Heightened recognition of how your thoughts and feelings impact your behaviors and how your behaviors impact your thoughts and feelings
A more robust understanding of who you are, including your personality traits, defense mechanisms, needs, and wants
A developed sense of what motivates you and what inhibits personal evolution
Enjoying a safe, trusting relationship with a mental health professional that enables you to feel comfortable settling into self-exploration in a new way
Ability to sustain changes you’ve made to improve the overall quality of your life
Co-constructing a language that helps you to make sense of the story of your life
What is the structure of individual therapy?
Individual therapy usually comprises weekly sessions that typically last approximately 50 minutes. Once progress has been made and sustained, clients may enjoy meeting with their therapist on a bi-weekly or monthly basis.
The length of time you might meet with an individual therapist depends on your needs and the length of time it takes you to achieve the goals you’ve co-created with your therapist.
How to Succeed in Individual Therapy
You will most likely succeed in individual therapy if you set realistic goals with a therapist who has the education, training, and experience to help you meet your goals.
It’s common for clients and therapists to check in frequently throughout your work together to make sure the goals still feel relevant and important. Micro-goals are also developed throughout the process to ensure you’re both working toward the long-term success you desire.
How much does individual therapy cost?
The cost of individual therapy varies most significantly depending on whether you’re paying through insurance or completely out of pocket. You may pay anywhere from about $15 to $200 per session.
If you choose to pay through insurance, you will likely have a co-pay that can range anywhere from $15 to $150+ per session. If you’re paying out of pocket, data shows that sessions generally range anywhere from $100 to $200 per session.
I often encourage clients to think of therapy as an investment because the benefits of excellent therapy should long surpass the actual sessions themselves.
Is individual therapy right for you?
Whether or not individual therapy is right for you can be a difficult, nuanced question. Most of us won’t know until we try, and even if we try, we might not get exactly what we want the first time around, or with the first therapist we try.
However, you won’t know until you try. If you’re curious about the potential benefits of therapy, that might be a sign it could be right for you. Interviewing a few therapists you might be interested in hiring can help you figure this out.
What is individual therapy? Conclusion
In this article, you’ve learned that individual therapy is the process by which an individual seeks the expertise of a mental health professional to talk through their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. While there are a variety of types of individual therapy, you’ve also learned about some of the basic foundations and that many therapists integrate more than one approach in their work.
The best way to proceed is to research different therapists and schedule consultations with them about your particular needs. From there, you’ll be better positioned to decide if you’d like to work with someone you feel confident can help you.
If you’d like to learn more about individual therapy with me and decide if I could be the right option for you, I invite you to schedule your free 15-minute consultation. I’d love to chat and learn more about you!
