How do I know if I’m getting any better from Therapy?
When a client comes to me for therapy, I measure their growth by a few different metrics. You may be surprised by one of the things I look for! It’s not super clinical but I find it to be really important. I am looking to see if the client seems to be enjoying his/her life more! Do you like yourself? Do you like your relationships? Are you having fun in your life? This really matters to me. We can tackle all of the goals you want but if you’re not having fun, I’m not sure what the point is!
More clinically speaking, I measure client growth through a lens that is very practical and can be applied to a variety of contexts: What’s the DIF?
- Duration
- Intensity
- Frequency
For the purpose of this blog, let’s consider the following case study:
A client presents in therapy due to being easily triggered in her current romantic relationship. Every weekend, the client ends up on the bathroom floor having a full-blown panic attack when her boyfriend initiates sex. In therapy, we spend time understanding what her triggers are and where in the client’s history that they are coming from. Perhaps we engage in EMDR therapy and address her trauma history. With her trauma targets desensitized and healthy thoughts freely flowing, the client reports that the trauma piece has really become a non-issue. Self-reports are really awesome and can be very reliable. Relief is pretty easy to spot! But as a therapist, how do I know if the client is improving in a clinically significant way?
I assess the duration, intensity, and frequency of the client’s triggers compared to when she started therapy.
In this example, the client reports that the frequency of her panic attacks has reduced from weekly to once every three months. When the panic attacks do happen, she reports the intensity is around a 4-5, instead of an 8-9. Additionally, the client reports the duration of the panic attacks has dropped from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. By all three factors, the client has experienced improvement.
Now that you understand measuring growth and change by duration, intensity, and frequency, it’s your turn to do the measuring!
Diet? Thinking about your ex? Alcohol use? Depression symptoms? Exercise? You can use this measurement tool to gauge your growth towards your personal goals.
You can use the DIF measurement for growth with any area that you’d like to see how you’ve changed over the past months or years, or start with a baseline today and assess again in a few months. So tell me, what growth would you like to measure in your life?
