Famously, Freud—when asked as to the purpose of psychotherapy—responded that the goals of therapy are the same as the goals of living: to love and to work[1]. Indeed most people enter into therapy due to some disturbance in their basic functioning in their profession and/or relationships.
How Can Therapy Help?
Therapy can help you:
- Live a life with greater calm and acceptance
- Have greater resilience in the face of difficulties
- Enjoy a greater sense of energy
- Offer effectiveness and elegance in living
- Give an enhanced sense of choice and satisfaction
- Improve intimacy with loved ones and friends.
In short, therapy is a support for you to love and to work.
Whether you’re experiencing anxiety, depression, OCD, substance use disorders or any other mental health malady, twice a week therapy may be a good place to start. This kind of therapy may help provide you with some understanding and relief, as well as improve your day-to-day functioning.
What Level of Care is Right For You?
In a nutshell, the treatment system for mental health and substance use disorders might include any of the following levels of care:
- Individual and group therapy (outpatient)
- Intensive outpatient programs
- Inpatient and residential treatment
- Partial hospital programs
Outpatient mental health care, or the type of care offered at The Lovett Center, refers to treatment given at a healing space during the course of a few hours, after which clients return home to carry out their normal activities such as school or work. Inpatient and residential treatment involve living around the-clock at the grounds where treatment takes place.
In considering what the right level of care is for you or a loved one, one thing to keep in mind is that life should not feel like an unending crisis. The right level of care is one that creates the security needed to explore and work through whatever issues created the crisis in the first place. When it’s working, therapy should not feel like putting out fires.
Explore The Lovett Center’s levels of care here, or contact us to set up a diagnostic assessment with a therapist who can then make recommendations on the type(s) of care best for you based on your specific situation.
About the Author:
Michael Lassoff is a Licensed Master Social Worker and psychotherapist. He’s a proud native Houstonian and earned his master’s degree in clinical social work at the University of Houston. He specializes in working with individuals with anxiety disorders, mood and thought disorders, grief, depression, substance abuse or addiction.
Michael serves as the program manager of the young adult cohort for the Pathos Program, an Intensive Outpatient Program at the Lovett Center. Learn more about his background here.
[1] Erikson, E. H. (Ed.). (1963). Youth: Change and challenge. Basic books.
