A question frequently asked by therapy clients on the first point of contact.
Firstly, let's examine the question. What exactly does the enquirer want to know?
e.g. How many therapy sessions will I need before I am free from my symptoms?
or
How many therapy sessions will it take before I start to feel some benefit?
The answers to both these questions would depend on the symptoms presented, what the client wants to achieve from therapy, e.g., their goals, the duration of symptoms, the severity of distress experienced, and often the underlying reasons for their anxiety.
Each of us is unique, with different life experiences, personality traits, present circumstances, traumas experienced, anxiety levels. These all play a part in determining the number of sessions needed.
Other considerations involved would be the type of therapy method used and what the client is seeking from therapy.
It is not uncommon for therapy sessions to last for 6, 8, 10 sessions, even as many as 20 sessions and some report being in therapy for a year or more.
At this point, let me tell you something about myself, my training and, importantly, the therapies I use.
I have written in some detail on my website www.barbarasheadtherapies.co.uk/nutrition about how I became interested in Nutritional Therapy whilst investigating solutions to my health issues, which ultimately helped me overcome chronic migraine and other health issues. I trained and qualified in 2010 as a nutritional therapist, assisting clients in addressing dietary imbalances and supporting the body in maintaining health and optimal body weight.
I then continued my studies in hypnotherapy and psychotherapy, qualifying as a Clinical Hypnotherapist in 2012, having a natural curiosity about how these therapies can further help my clients. This curiosity was fuelled, partly due to my background and unhappy childhood and personal life experiences and by a requisite experience of therapy required for all therapists on qualification, which I feel enables my natural empathy towards client's experiences and emotional symptoms.
In 2013, I trained in the therapy that enthrals me; I became a BWRT® Practitioner. I had now found the therapy that most enabled me to help various clients and their specific symptoms, which were stopping them from being the person they wanted to be and should be. I very soon found out how versatile and far-reaching this therapy could be. I am now also a Supervisor/Mentor/Examiner of BWRT®.
In 2021, I qualified with the National Centre of Eating Disorders as a Master Practitioner of Eating Disorders and Obesity, bringing together my nutritional qualifications and experience and my psychotherapeutic training. My interest in this subject was prompted by the personal experience of someone close to me.
Working with a simple fear
Let's take a simple fear or phobia, perhaps a spider fear, Arachnophobia, to give it its proper name.
I have heard clients graphically explain the absolute terror they have felt on seeing a normal household spider run across the floor. Logically they know it can't physically hurt them, but emotionally the terror experienced by that client is off the Richter scale! Or it seems so to them! In my experience, just one session of BWRT® (Brainworking Recursive Therapy) later, that same client can easily watch a short video of a spider without any emotion except curiosity.
When working with clients and BWRT®, I have found it doesn't take long to work through their fears and phobias and very soon, they should be feeling much better about themselves and their experiences. More complex issues can be dealt with relatively quickly but may take a few more sessions and slightly different techniques. It's as simple as that, but at the same time, there is a lot of science behind it.
What is BWRT®?
Let me explain a little more about BWRT®. this therapy is a unique psychology model based on neuroscience research created by Terence Watts in 2011; the BWRT® technique is known for being fast and effective.
BWRT® works on neural pathways working in a cognitive gap between an incoming impulse, which may have historically triggered an uncomfortable or unwanted response, such as anxiety or emotional upset, the result of past experiences, triggered fractions of seconds before conscious awareness.
When working with the BWRT® process, the Practitioner will help the client replace the troublesome response, replacing it with an alternative response, e.g., how the client prefers to feel anxious; they feel calm and collected.
Since 2013 thousands of therapists globally, including Clinical Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Medical Practitioners, Counsellors, and hypnotherapists, have trained in BWRT® ® and are using the technique in practice. In South Africa, the Army is using BWRT® ® extensively.
BWRT® therapy is not only fast and effective, but it is also largely content-free, importantly you do not have to share your worst memories; your therapist only needs to be aware they exist.
BWRT® ® has transformed my therapy practice. Since 2013 I have used this very effective therapy with thousands of client sessions with positive, fast and reliable results. It has become my number one choice for clients presenting with fears, phobias, habits and anxieties of many kinds and more complex issues.
BWRT® ® is unique, and unlike anything else, you may have encountered. I cannot help but get excited when I talk to others about its speed and effectiveness. BWRT® can be used face to face or just as effectively by Zoom, Skype and other similar platforms to significant effect.
So, coming back to the initial questions, how many sessions will I need? How many therapy sessions will it take before I start to feel some benefit?
BWRT® ® often produces very rapid results, depending on the severity of symptoms. BWRT® may provide instant relief in as few as one or two sessions for a simple fear or phobia, as illustrated above. When working with more complex or long-standing issues, the total number of sessions required maybe just 4/6-8 sessions. You will often start to feel the benefits from the start of therapy. As a bonus, a history of previous therapy work undertaken, successful or otherwise, does not seem to make a difference to the success of BWRT®.