How long before I see progress in therapy?

When people start therapy, they often hope things will get better quickly. Maybe not overnight, but soon. After all, you're talking about your problems...shouldn’t that help?

It's a reasonable hope, but therapy doesn’t work like medicine for a cold. Emotional struggles don’t follow a fixed timeline, and there's rarely a clean, linear route from “problem” to “solution.” That can be discouraging, especially when you feel like you’re showing up but not moving in the direction you want.

A more helpful way to think about therapy is to imagine learning a new language. If all you need are a few phrases - “Where is the bus station?” “Can you help me find my hotel?” - you can pick those up pretty quickly. Likewise, short-term therapy can offer tools for managing a specific issue or crisis.

But becoming fluent in a new language - able to think, feel, and respond differently - takes time. It involves shifting your mental and emotional habits, challenging ingrained patterns, and learning how to move through the world in a new way.

That process is rarely smooth. Progress tends to loop, not follow a straight line. When life throws something unexpected - grief, a breakup, a family rupture - it might feel like you're back where you started. But setbacks don’t erase growth. They reveal it. They test and strengthen the foundation you’ve already been building.

Therapy isn’t just about solving problems. Some problems, such as a difficult family dynamic, might not be solvable in the way we hope. In those cases, therapy becomes about strengthening your capacity to stay grounded when life is uncertain. To know that, even when things are hard, you have the resources (or can develop them) to carry on.

And sometimes that’s the deeper change, not that everything’s fixed, but that you feel more able to face up to and deal with what can’t be fixed.

This might already be truer than you realise. Think of what you’ve endured - setbacks, tension in relationships, moments you thought you couldn’t bear. Yet here you are, still going. So often, we underestimate our own resilience.

If you're in therapy and wondering why progress feels slow, here are a few reminders:

1. Progress isn’t linear.
   Some weeks you’ll feel lighter, other weeks heavier. That’s not failure. It often means you're facing something important. Therapy isn’t necessarily about steady improvement - it’s about working toward deeper, lasting change.

2. Discomfort is part of the process.
   It’s common to feel worse before you feel better. Therapy brings into focus things you’ve previously pushed away. That takes a lot of courage - especially to keep going.

3. Familiar isn’t always helpful (but it can feel safer).
   Old habits might be painful, but they’re familiar. Letting them go can be unsettling not because they worked, but because they’ve been with you a long time.

4. Therapy isn’t always about fixing problems.
   Some things don’t resolve neatly. Instead, therapy can help you adapt, stay steady, and face life with more clarity and strength.

5. There’s no one timeline.
   Everyone’s process is different. What takes one person six weeks might take another six months, depending on history, goals, and context. As the writer Samuel Beckett said, “You’re on Earth. There’s no cure for that.” Much of what we grapple with is simply part of being human.

6. Talk about it.
   If you’re feeling stuck or frustrated, talk to your therapist about it. That’s part of the work, too. If you've been thinking about therapy and would like to speak with someone, feel free to get in touch with us.

It's useful to keep in mind that therapy isn’t a shortcut to happiness. It’s often a slow strengthening of understanding, resilience, and self-trust. Like learning a new language, it takes time but over time, it becomes part of you. It won't turn you into someone else, but it will help you grow more fully into who you are.