Whats with the worksheets?

[Shaymus]

I have had two therapists now and they have both given me worksheets about psychology. It irritates me quite a bit. I wanna tell em im not a generic person, listen to me and tell me the stuff i need to know. It doesnt help me at all to give examples of my distorted thinking or to list what coping methods are healthy or not. One sheet is telling you how unique you are and then they hand you more sheets that have been copied 60,000 times since 1976. Heck, even in the hospital when i was forced to go to the group things they handed these things out. Do most therapists use them at some point? The new one uses them way less than the old one but she still handed me one last time. I guess it annoys me too because if you wanna know something, ask! Im too old for 6th grade high school assignments. Is it just the lazy way out?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Yes.

The "worksheets" as you call them are to give you things to work on and think about between your sessions... they are for your benefit, not for the benefit of the therapist. If the only time you work on your issues is in your weekly one-hour session, you are going to be working on them for a very long time.

The other purpose is to help you acquire insight and skills to manage your symptoms and behaviors yourself, thereby making you less dependent on your therapist or on therapy over the long term.

 

[Shaymus]

Good answer, makes a lot of sense. Guess i have to adjust my perspective a little. I spend a lot of time between appointments going over what we talked about already, i can adjust and think over the worksheets too and why they gave them to me.

 

[sunset]

Spinoff of "What's with the worksheets?"

I have never seen any worksheets..? Is there anyplace to view these sheets? Just curious, because I have had a few therapist, the latest being a few yrs and there was never any work for me to do outside the office..
Lately he has been asking me to jot down my dreams and thoughts but thats it..

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Re: Spinoff of "Whats with the worksheets?"

I'm confused... :?

What are these worksheets you are asking about, sunset?

 

[Rosa]

Re: Spinoff of "What's with the worksheets?"

Hi Sunset,
Are you asking about some type of 'homework' assignments from your therapy sessions? Perhaps you could suggest your therapist giving you things to do/write/think about between sessions. My doctor doesn't really do this but we do talk about any thoughts I had from the previous session and one topic usually leads to another, I do sometimes give notes to my doctor of things I've thought about or want to make sure we cover when I'm there, so maybe you could assign your own work to you and go over it when you see him/her?
Rosa

 

[sunset]

Re: Spinoff of "What's with the worksheets?"

I'm confused... :?

What are these worksheets you are asking about, sunset?

Go to page 4 and you will see a post from Shaymus titled " Whats with the worksheets". He explains it in there.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Thanks, sunset - I merged the topics. Generally, it's better to reply to an older topic than to start a "spinoff" becausze, as you've seen, many people won't remember the previous thread or, for new members, may never have read it at all.

Some therapists use worksheets or written homework assignments, some don't. I think it's probably fairly common for people who use CBT as part of their approach; perhaps not as common for therapists who use other therapeutic approaches.

I tend to use written homework assignments at the beginning of therapy as a way of helping the client (and me) to structure his/her initial exploration of certain issues (self-esteem, self-concept, interpersonal attitudes and views about relationships, etc.) and during a CBT phase if that's part of the therapy to monitor and alter self-talk.

 

[sunset]

Sorry for the confusion Dr Baxter. From now on, I will just reply to the original post.

Thank You for your input on the question I had.