11 Essential Topics to Discuss in Therapy: A Guide to Making the Most of Your Sessions
Unsure of what to talk about in therapy? Here are 11 topics to help you get started.
You may be thinking about starting to see a therapist, but you aren’t sure if therapy is right for you or what you’d want to talk about in a session. It is normal to be nervous about what a first session looks like and unsure of what it means to “be in therapy.” In this blog post, I’ll outline 11 topics that are helpful for most people to dive into as they begin therapy.
Therapy is a brave step towards self-awareness, self-compassion, resilience, and personal growth. It’s a journey to begin feeling okay being you, regardless of what’s going on in your life. Here are some topics to explore that most people can connect to.
How to Start Your First Therapy Session: Key Topics to Discuss
At its foundation, therapy needs to feel like a safe space to be you. Therapy should be a place where you can share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences and be met with empathy, curiosity, and respect. Trust is at the heart of the therapeutic relationship, and a first session is a great place to see how sharing with your therapist feels.
Your therapist will likely start the first session by going over informed consent and confidentiality, and explain a little about their style in session. Then they will ask you questions to get to know you better and explore together what you are looking for in therapy.
In the first session, expect to discuss what you are currently struggling with that brought you to therapy, your mental health history, past experiences in therapy, family history, medical history, and what has supported you in the past. This general overview of your life can help give your therapist context for what you want to address in therapy. Therapy is a collaboration, and together with your therapist you will explore your goals for therapy and begin examining what’s in the way of achieving them. The therapist is an expert guide who supports their clients to discover new insights, learn about themselves, and develop new ways of moving through the world in a healthier, more authentic way.
2. Addressing Emotional Challenges and Mental Health in Therapy
Many people begin therapy because they are struggling with their mental health. Clients often are seeking support for anxiety or depression, wanting help in changing patterns of behavior that are no longer serving them, or wanting to work through various sources of distress in their life.
Therapy is an opportunity to address trauma, anxiety, relationship issues, and all sorts of life challenges in a supportive and empathetic environment. In these sessions, you can safely explore the root causes of your anxiety or depression, identify their triggers, and discover how they impact your everyday thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Therapy can be a place to gain valuable insights that help you transform your life.
In therapy, you can develop more coping mechanisms and skills to handle anxious thoughts, relationship issues, and daily stressors. A licensed therapist can guide you in developing a greater awareness of what you are feeling, a deeper understanding of your emotions, and more control in how you express them. Throughout the process, you’ll also work towards building resilience, nurturing self-compassion, and explore the deeper causes of your distress. Therapy is an empowering space and by cultivating self-awareness of your past and present, you have more opportunities to shape your future.
3. Why Addressing Everyday Issues in Therapy Matters
Addressing “small” every day issues in therapy is just as powerful as tackling major life issues. People regularly tend to dismiss or downplay everyday concerns, assuming they are not worthy of discussing or a waste of “therapy time.” However, these seemingly minor issues often hold more importance than we realize.
Bringing up the “small stuff” in therapy can reveal key insights into our thinking patterns and the emotional responses that repeatedly impact our lives. The ramification of shifting a simple response is multiplied when it occurs over and over again.
Additionally these brief moments often serve as windows into deeper emotional layers and unresolved issues that affect our overall wellbeing. Therapists are tracking larger overall themes and they can help us connect small snapshots in time to these broader issues.
Once you begin to develop self-awareness, you can begin to explore new ways of coping and choose how you want to live each day. Navigating these seemingly trivial experiences with insight, purpose, and resilience can have huge ripple effects on overall wellbeing.
4. Healing Relationship Patterns and Overcoming Loneliness
Relationships are a key experience of being a human; we are both wounded and healed in relationships. Whether it is with romantic partners, family members, friends, colleagues, or with our ourselves, our relationships can be a source of connection or conflict. Loneliness is an epidemic across the United States and now more than ever, people come to therapy wanting to develop more meaningful relationships.
Relationships deeply impact our emotional health, our perspective on the world, and how we understand ourselves. Relationship issues, including healthy communication, boundaries, conflict, trust and betrayal, and a lack of relationships are all primary reasons that many people seek the support of therapy. Many people need help in examining their dynamics in relationships and learning new ways of relating to others.
Working with a licensed therapist can be a safe and compassionate place to reflect on the recurring patterns in your relationships. Therapy provides an opportunity to explore how to be authentically you while in healthy connection with another.
It can be a space to learn what is a boundary and how to hold it, to learn what it means to have healthy conflict with loved ones, to unpack and heal from past traumas that impact current relationships, and learn how to listen with empathy.
By addressing these relationship patterns in therapy and learning new skills, you can create more fulfilling and meaningful connections, ultimately enhancing the richness of your life.
5. Exploring Self-identity and Building Self-esteem through therapy
Your relationship with yourself will be the longest, most intimate relationship in your life. For many, having a good relationship with themselves is something that they desperately want, but don’t know how to achieve. Therapy offers a caring and understanding environment to discuss these struggles. It’s an opportunity to confront these challenges and work on greater self-acceptance.
Somewhere along the way, many of us learned to shut down or quiet parts of ourselves in order to fit in. In therapy, you can look at all parts of your identity and experience, allowing you to build confidence and challenge the limits that have been placed on you by others (or yourself). Being witnessed by a compassionate therapist can help battle lifelong shame and help you begin to heal.
All of us have self doubt and an internal voice that can be critical. There are times when doubt can be appropriate, but not when it gets intense enough to impact one’s self-esteem, ability to pursue goals, or relationships. Many people begin therapy because, despite what they show externally, they are being negatively impacted by the way they talk to themselves.
By voicing these thoughts and making them external, it is possible to slow them down and really examine them. Opening up about self-doubt can lead to developing strategies to improve self esteem and challenge some of the faulty cognitions about oneself. Regular sessions with the right therapist can empower you to overcome self-doubt, embrace your authenticity, and step into a more joyful, vibrant self.
6. Navigating Life transitions
The only constant in life is change. With change can come uncertainty and facing the unknown. Whether you are moving to a new city, starting college, changing jobs, getting married, your kids are getting older, or you are coping with losing a loved one, therapy provides a supportive place to navigate these shifts in life. Ambiguity and change can be overwhelming, and it is normal to struggle when facing unexpected shifts. Therapy can help you find your footing again.
If you are uncertain what to talk about in therapy, discussing recent life transitions is a great starting point. Together with your therapist, you can explore how you’ve managed past changes and brainstorm strategies to confidently address current or future transitions. Therapy can support you to feel more grounded in yourself and capable of organizing your life.
7. Healing Traumatic Experiences Through Therapy
Unhealed trauma doesn’t mean that you are living in the past, but that the past is impacting your present experience. Unresolved trauma from childhood or past experiences can affect your everyday emotional and mental well being. Processing past trauma can be one of the most healing (and the most difficult) topics in therapy, as it comes with challenging emotions and memories. Working with a therapist who specializes in trauma can provide the support you need to process your past and begin the healing journey.
A common phrase in therapy regarding trauma is ‘going slow is going fast.’ Meaning, building rapport with your therapist, learning coping mechanisms you feel confident in, and developing self-care practices are as much trauma work as discussing the past. Building trust with yourself to know you can regulate hard emotions and feeling prepared to voice what you need if you become overwhelmed are foundations to safely process trauma.
By addressing traumatic experiences in a safe and supportive environment, you can move towards healing, emotional freedom, and a more vibrant life.
8. Uncovering Childhood Patterns and Past Experiences
Our early family experiences can act as a template for how we perceive and interact with the world. As children, we tend to believe that our family is the same as everyone else’s and everything we experience is normal. However, the patterns we were raised with can significantly influence our present behaviors in ways that we may not understand or be aware of.
Talk therapy offers an opportunity to become aware of places you are on autopilot and empower you to take active control in your life. By discussing generational patterns in therapy, you can gain clarity on why you may hold certain core beliefs or act in certain ways.
With the guidance of a therapist, you can compassionately examine these patterns, identify if any of them no longer serve you, and consequently make different choices. Therapy can help empower you to choose how you want to live your life, rather than allow the past to dictate your future.
9. Leveraging your Personal Strengths to create positive change
While therapy often focuses on addressing struggles and challenges, it is equally important to recognize and harness your unique strengths and capabilities. Highlighting moments where your strengths have served you can create a deeper connection to these qualities and help you tap into them in the future.
Many people tend to attribute struggling to themselves and success to the external world or happenstance. By doing this they rob themselves of healthy self-affirmations and put barriers between themselves and appropriate self-worth and self-esteem. A therapist can help you notice more of your inherent positive qualities and the skills you have developed that serve you. Building off this foundation of strength gives you more access to growth, resilience, and confidence.
10. Exploring Spirituality and Religion in Therapy for Deeper Understanding
Exploring spirituality and religion in therapy can be a powerful way to connect with your inner self and find deeper meaning in life. Whether you are grappling with questions about your faith, seeking to understand your spiritual beliefs, or navigating impact of beliefs on relationships, therapy offers a safe and supportive space to explore these profound aspects of your identity. By discussing your unique spirituality with a skilled therapist, you can gain clarity, strengthen your beliefs, and integrate your values more fully into your life. This exploration can also help you address any conflicts between your personal beliefs and other aspects of your life, fostering more balance and connection.
11. Healing and Nervous System Reconnection in Therapy
Using therapy to heal and reconnect to your nervous system can be a transformative experience, especially if you’ve experienced trauma, chronic stress, or anxiety. The nervous system plays a crucial role in regulating your body’s response to stress, and when it’s out of balance, it can lead to a range of physical and emotional challenges. Therapy offers a stable environment and safe space to explore these issues, helping you discover how your nervous system is affecting your overall well-being.
People often feel like they alternate between feeling no emotions and being unaware of what they experience in their body to at times being totally overwhelmed and feeling out of control. Trauma and stress can create disconnection from our nervous system and it can take support to gain more awareness and insight into the body’s signals. By working with a therapist who can guide this process, you can begin to safely connect with your body, promote relaxation, and reduce symptoms of anxiety and stress.
Begin with these things to work on in therapy
Learning what therapy can offer, developing insight and new skills, and making choices more aligned with what you want for yourself can lead to feeling more satisfied in your life. Choosing to work on yourself in therapy can be a powerful process in learning to navigate life’s many challenges in new ways and develop a healthier relationship with yourself. Whether you are facing depression, stress, anxiety, life transitions, or are seeking greater self-awareness, therapy provides the support you need to thrive.
The journey of self-discovery and healing is one that you don’t have to walk alone–an experienced and compassionate therapist is here to guide you every step of the way. Connect with a therapist in Cedar City, or virtually across Utah, who can help you move in the direction you want to go. Ready to explore these topics in therapy? Book a free consultation with Resonance Counseling today.
