Here at the Human Relations Institute & Clinics, we get a lot of clients who come in to see a psychology practitioner with the expectation that year-long, decade-long or even life-long issues will be resolved within one or two hour-long sessions with a therapist. We call this Microwaveable Therapy.
Microwaveable Therapy is the idea that sharing space with a therapist for a pre-allocated number of minutes, while conversations go from cold (or distant) to warm (or comfortable) to heated (or challenging) is enough to resolve the problems at hand.
We do not blame clients for holding fast to the expectation that microwaveable therapy is practical and realistic, or that it works. This is, unfortunately, the general perception of change, growth, and healing.
This expectation for change to happen overnight, for healing to occur within 60 minutes, and for growth to take place within a timeframe exists for two reasons: one, our limited awareness and knowledge of psychology and mental health, and two, our current age of instant gratification and fast-everything.
The lack of awareness in our community about the connection between mental illnesses, traumatic experiences, and other life issues is a big problem because if we do not understand the cause, we cannot understand how to heal, and if we cannot understand how to heal, solutions will be left untouched.
On the other end of the spectrum is the try-all, quick-fix approach. And this is the way our #2017 lifestyle contributes to the problematic idea of microwaveable therapy. This is the part of our community that has a degree of awareness about mental illnesses and is eager to address the issue but is trapped under the guise of microwaveable therapy.
While it may appear that there is no grave danger in expecting instant healing or change in one or two therapeutic meetings initially, these expectations coupled with slow or no change over the course of those meetings can lead to individuals (and often family members involved) becoming disappointed, irritable, resentful, or worse anxious or depressed. It can lead to the worsening of symptoms by two-fold.
It is important to remember that the decision to seek support from a mental health professional is a change; it is a significant step towards long-term growth. Small, subconscious changes begin to happen from the very beginning. and it takes time for those changes to translate over into large, more visible changes.
Therapy takes time. Change is progressive. Healing is evolutionary.
“If you don’t see immediate results, it doesn’t mean you’re not on the right path of change.”
– Sabine Skaf, Co-Owner, Clinical Psychologist, and Assessment Director of HRIC.
Written by: T. Dilshad
