Individual Therapy
Learning Objectives
- Define and give examples of individual therapy
Once a person seeks treatment, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, he has an intake done to assess his clinical needs. An intake is the therapist’s first meeting with the client. The therapist gathers specific information to address the client’s immediate needs, such as the presenting problem, the client’s support system, and insurance status. The therapist informs the client about confidentiality, fees, and what to expect in treatment. Confidentiality means the therapist cannot disclose confidential communications to any third party unless mandated or permitted by law to do so. During the intake, the therapist and client will work together to discuss treatment goals. Then a treatment plan will be formulated, usually with specific measurable objectives. Also, the therapist and client will discuss how treatment success will be measured and the estimated length of treatment. There are several different modalities of treatment (Figure 1): Individual therapy, family therapy, couples therapy, and group therapy are the most common.
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- Types of Treatment. Authored by: OpenStax College. Located at: https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/16-2-types-of-treatment. License: CC BY: Attribution. License Terms: Download for free at https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction
therapist’s first meeting with the client in which the therapist gathers specific information to address the client’s immediate needs
therapist cannot disclose confidential communications to any third party, unless mandated or permitted by law
treatment modality in which the client and clinician meet one-on-one