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How often do I need to go to therapy?

In short

Weekly, at the start. It's the standard rhythm for most methods and it isn't arbitrary: below one session a week, each meeting is spent catching up on what happened in between.

In more detail

The rhythm isn't an administrative preference. Continuity is what lets the work accumulate: at fortnightly intervals, part of every session goes on reconnecting, and between-session assignments lose their context.

How it usually evolves:

  • Initial phase — weekly, until things stabilise. For most people, the first two to three months.
  • Working phase — still weekly in structured therapies like CBT, where homework has a rhythm; sometimes fortnightly when the situation is stable.
  • Consolidation — fortnightly, then monthly, as you manage more on your own.
  • Maintenance — a session every few months, optional. It costs little and catches relapses early.

Real exceptions: DBT involves two meetings a week, individual plus group. EMDR may need longer sessions of 90 minutes. And during a crisis, frequency rises temporarily.

If the reason you go less often is financial, say so directly — many therapists have adjusted rates, and a fortnightly session kept consistently beats a weekly one abandoned after a month.

Written by the Seempathy editorial team and clinically reviewed. This is not personalised medical advice and does not replace an assessment.

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