Spouses of Long-Term Therapy Clients - When Is Therapy Too Much?

How much therapy is too much therapy? In this week’s #AskTheTherapist in The New York Times, a reader asks about her husband of 38 years, who's 87 and has been in therapy on and off for nearly 20 years. She says he’s “a smart, kind, and loving husband” but his ADD behaviors haven’t changed, she pays for the therapy, and she wants to have him stop going. But before we get to any limit, I asked her what she means by the therapy not "working." She went to therapy for insight and change, but he might be in that room for something she never thought to measure, like easing his anxiety, providing structure, or giving him a space to explore private emotions or even processing this late stage of life. While therapist and client always need to communicate about treatment goals, someone outside the therapy who feels it’s not “working” might get curious about the reason that person finds it beneficial. Read my full response: bit.ly/4xraFYH And… Got a question for me? Email me: [email redacted]