Here’s some unsurprising news:

If you want to achieve your goals you must set specific, measurable, and time-targeted objectives, at least according to goal-setting theory, an important area of study in organizational psychology (and Wikipedia).

Psychotherapy is one of the disciplines that can help people set specific, measurable and time-targeted goals and objectives—at least, it usually is. In interviewing numerous former and current therapy patients my colleagues and I found that a significant percentage reported that goal setting was not mentioned during therapy. Of course, this is not a scientific study, just anecdotal evidence, but I mention it because the results are surprising. After all, rating positive change can be awfully subjective if goals aren’t set and able to be measured. And of course, if change doesn’t happen in a reasonable time-frame, then who’s to say the change wouldn’t have happened without a specific psychotherapeutic intervention?

For example, I know someone who was in psychotherapy for twelve years. Yes, he has changed a lot. He has become a more thoughtful, gentler person less likely to act impulsively if the risk of harm is great. However, when he began analysis he was 32—when he finished he had just turned 44. Most likely his life-experiences and time itself contributed to his maturity—and after reflecting he decided to encourage me to share his story.

If those personality changes were the goal of therapy (and indeed, he says they were, at least in a nutshell) was it worth the tens of thousands of dollars and 12 years he spent in therapy? Of course, that’s a subjective question but one worth asking.

If you face a mental health issue that can benefit from psychotherapy, one of the first questions your therapist must help you answer is: “What are my goals (and individual objectives that make up my goals)?”

“What will therapy do to help me reach my goals?” might be next.

Then, “How long will it take to reach my individual objectives and larger goals?”

And, finally, “What comes next after reaching those goals—will therapy be complete?” or “What course of action will the therapist and I take if I don’t reach those goals?”

A reasonable time-frame in which to achieve therapy goals is an essential component of compassionate and effective psychotherapy. Or, simply put, you and your therapist should set target dates by which to see specific goals met — and then you should both work hard to meet them.

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    Last reviewed: 5 Jan 2010