Defining progress in therapy can be tricky. Therapy can mean many different things to many different people.
Some people come in to therapy for wellness. To explore and better themselves. To, dare I say, “hack” their own psychology.
Some come in because of a behavioral problem they’re having. Problems with substance abuse. Anger management. Problems paying attention.
And some come in due to emotional problems. Self doubt. Depression. Constant worrying.
Usually, it’s a combination of all three. And, of course, many other reasons. But even with an abundance of reasons you may seek treatment, measuring progress is pretty simple.
I measure progress as an increase or decrease in frequency, intensity, and duration of the emotional or behavioral events causing stress in a person’s life. Let’s look at these individually for a moment.
1. Frequency:
How often is the event taking place? If you’re losing control of your anger on a daily basis at the beginning of therapy and only twice a month after therapy, that’s significant progress. Same with emotions, increasing positive self talk on a daily basis is progress.
2. Intensity:
Intensity is a major indicator of success. If you think about the nature of mental health issues, intensity is at the foundation. Taking a simplistic approach, intensify sadness and you have depression. Intensify worry and you have anxiety. Intensify concentration issues and you have ADHD. So many times, decreasing the intensity of symptoms is the most important measure of progress.
You might say the intensity of your feelings of worthlessness has decreased. Or a parent might say the intensity of their child’s outburst may have decreased from a 9 to a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10.
3. Duration:
The amount of time an event lasts is also important. If you get angry for 2 minutes and then get over it, I say you handled that stress well (as long as intensity remained relatively low). But if you get angry for hours on end or get depressed for weeks on end, you need to decrease this duration.
You can also be looking to increase duration, such as duration since your last cigarette or duration since your last panic attack.
If you’re looking to define progress in therapy, or any kind of behavioral or emotional change, make sure to measure frequency, intensity and duration. As Peter Drucker famously said:
“What gets measured, gets managed.”
And let’s be honest, we’re all looking to manage life a little better.