Individual therapy is the type of therapy that most people imagine when they picture therapy, or when they see it portrayed in a show or movie. There is one person and one therapist talking together about problems and solutions. There are many different types of individual therapy, and each type usually has an organizing principle or perspective based on the scientific research available to us about how people function. My style of individual therapy will usually follow what is called a cognitive behavioral approach, which focuses on the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This approach usually involves “homework” as well, meaning you will be expected to use the techniques learned in session in your life outside of therapy. Consistent practice between visits is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most important part of individual therapy. Talking about problems once a week in front a therapist is not enough if you want lasting change. This is true for lots of other things, like physical therapy, music lessons, or learning a new language.

For children and teens, individual therapy will often look a little different. Here are a few key differences:

• Parents will likely be part of every visit (half-and-half, or 75/25, etc.). Don’t plop your child into the visit and walk away!

• Parents will need to take responsibility for supervising their children while they practice the techniques at home.

• Pacing might be slightly different from adult therapy, since certain psychological concepts may require more or less time.

• There might be more time spent on “rapport-building” (e.g., playing games, watching videos) than usual, but not too much. If all a therapist does is play, that will not accomplish much.

• Parents might find themselves needing to motivate children to do the therapy homework, which is very normal. Even willing adults have a hard time changing.

Here are just a few types of problems that respond well to individual therapy, depending on age and maturity:

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Phobias

• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

• Trauma

You might think that individual therapy is good for every problem, but it is not. In fact, there are some problems that the clinical psychology community has mostly agreed are not a good fit for individual therapy. Problems like defiance, tantrums, executive dysfunction, and ADHD, to name a few, are not generally treated with individual therapy. For more information about these other problems, see the Parent Consultation and Parent-Child Therapy pages.