I’m aware that my blogs so far have covered quite serious topics, so every now and then, I’ll mix things up with some content that’s a little more light-hearted.

Last week, I used my social media channels to ask if you had any general questions about therapists or therapy in general, and you didn’t disappoint.

I chose the five questions that I thought were the most fun, and here are my answers.

1. Do therapists have therapists?

The short answer is yes. In the UK, when you train through one of the main regulating bodies such as the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) or the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), part of the compulsory criteria is that you complete a minimum amount of personal therapy. This makes perfect sense as among many other things, it lets us experience the therapy/client relationship from the client’s perspective.

Another reason therapists have therapists, perhaps unsurprisingly, is because we believe in therapy. The only difference now is that I request sessions as and when I need them, as opposed to holding them weekly or monthly, but even knowing I can arrange a session if needed acts as a constant source of reassurance.

2. Why is a therapist’s hour only 50-minutes long?

Contrary to popular belief, a therapist’s hour is actually a full 60-minutes, but the final 10-minutes of each session is used for making notes. It is always best practice to make these notes directly after the session as all of the information is fresh, and that 10-minute window acts as a brief but important break in between sessions.

3. Are therapists funny?

We’re not funny, we’re hilarious!

On a serious note, every therapist will have their own personality. Some people are naturally more serious, but most of the therapist’s I’ve encountered do tend to have a nice sense of humour.

I personally like to bring humour into the therapy room whenever possible, but of course, it has to be done sensibly and appropriately, which is easier to gauge when you have built a strong relationship with your client.

4. Why do therapists always ask, “And how does that make you feel?”

I believe that one of the most important roles of a therapist is to make sure they understand the clients’ frame of reference. Everybody is different, so understanding the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the person sat right in front of you matters just as much as anything.

Secondly, sometimes a person needs to say something aloud in order to hear, analyse, and understand if it is actually how they feel. Sometimes when a thought is verbally expressed, a client will surprise themselves by what they’ve said. This can either become an affirmation, or they can decide that actually, they don’t feel like that at all, so there is both a logic and a science behind this question.

5. Do therapists make less mistakes than people who are not therapists?

This one really made me laugh, and the answer is absolutely not!

I think that therapists make the same amount of mistakes as anyone else. They just probably analyse their mistakes more by considering why the mistake was made, and what it really means.

My belief is that making mistakes is something that is innately human. I make them all the time, which is why I never judge clients when they are honest about mistakes. The important thing is to work through them so we can move forward in our lives, and this is where therapists really do come into their own.

I know this post was a little different, but I hope you enjoyed it. If there’s anything you feel I can help with, please feel free to contact me any time you wish.