Post-Session Reflection
How will I feel after my therapy session?
This is a question many clients have when coming to therapy. Clients wonder how they will feel and whether they should return to work or school after a session, go out with a friend, or stay home alone.
The answer is, of course, it depends! Everyone processes therapy a little bit differently and even the same person might feel differently from session to session. Many times, clients leave sessions feeling lighter and energized. Other times, clients leave and feel tired or tender. It’s a good idea to check in with yourself after your session to see where you’re at and determine what you need.
One way to check in with yourself is through a post-session reflection.
Post-Session Reflection
Reflection is an important part of therapy. It can happen spontaneously or intentionally. Spontaneous reflections might include suddenly recalling something your therapist said that stuck with you, or even having a dream about something you discussed in session (Stewart & Schröder, 2015). These spontaneous recollections mean our brains are processing our experiences, and that’s a good thing!
It can be even more beneficial to set aside time to intentionally reflect on your session.
The benefits of intentionally spending time reflecting on your therapy experience include promoting self-growth, emotional regulation, enhanced therapy outcomes, and enhanced therapy experience.
Promotes Self-Growth
There is a wealth of research suggesting that the act of self-reflection has positive impacts on how you feel about yourself, your work and academic performance, your relationships, and your overall level of happiness (Jones, 2023).
Emotional Regulation
Taking a moment to check in, notice what you are feeling, and make an intentional choice about how to spend your time, is an excellent way to regulate your emotions outside of the therapy room. The act of “noticing” has many benefits, like helping to reduce distress. “Noticing” could be as simple as taking a few seconds to consider how you are feeling and saying to yourself, “I am feeling calm” or “I am feeling anxious” or “I am having a sad moment right now…” and so on. This works for all kinds of emotional experiences and thought processes. It can help you process and accept a difficult feeling or enhance and savour a positive experience. Try it out and see what happens!
Enhanced Therapy Outcomes
People who take the time to reflect after sessions and between therapy sessions report greater progress and lasting change compared to those who did not reflect at all between sessions (Koziol, 2021).
Enhanced Therapy Experience
Reflecting on your session intentionally can help you identify what you like about therapy and what may not be working for you. Bringing this information back to your therapist can strengthen your relationship and ensure that your therapist can tailor the therapy to your individual needs.
Clients may worry that bringing up issues they have with their therapist, or the therapy style, will create conflict, but in good therapy, bringing up a concern becomes an opportunity to improve both the process and the relationship!
How to Reflect After Your Session
There are many ways you can reflect on your sessions. Find a way that feels right for you. Experimenting with different ways of reflecting might bring surprising benefits, so consider trying something new.
Journaling/Expressive Writing
Research suggests that writing about your experiences, thoughts, and feelings helps you process and regulate your emotions, increases self-awareness and insight, reduces distress and intrusive thoughts, improves your memory, and deepens your therapy experience (Sutton, 2018).
There are endless ways to use writing in reflection. Here are a couple of options you might try.
Gratitude Journaling: Write down three things you are grateful for each day. Big or small. The same or different from the day before. Even little moments like, “the first delicious sip of my morning coffee,” absolutely count.
Direct Reflection:
a. One thing I liked about this session (and why).
b. One thing I did NOT like about this session (and why).
c. One thing that surprised me about the session today.
Free Writing: Simply putting pen to paper (or fingers to smartphone) can be a way to express emotions and process experiences. You never know what will come up and the key is not to think too hard about it while you write. Again, you might surprise yourself and come across something you want to spend more time considering.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness has a reputation. Some people love mindfulness and practice regularly. Others associate mindfulness with meditation and choose not to participate. Whatever works for you is just fine. Research does suggest that mindfulness practices, even just connecting to the moment you are in versus thinking about the past or future, has incredible benefits. You certainly do not need to meditate. Just taking a moment to notice some of the sights, sounds, and other sensations around you is plenty.
Even taking a few intentional breaths has huge benefits. Try breathing in for a count of 4, holding your breath for a count of 5, and breathing out for a count of 6 (4-5-6). Do a few rounds of this breathing and see how you feel.
Alternatively, you might try “square breathing” or “box breathing”. This type of breathing involves breathing in for 4 seconds, holding your breath for 4 seconds, exhaling for 4 seconds, holding for 4 seconds and repeating (4-4-4-4).
Try both out and see what you prefer.
Creative Expression
Reflecting through creativity is powerful and offers endless opportunities to explore! Some people like to doodle while they contemplate the work they do in therapy. Others may paint, write a creative story, play/create music, make a collage…really the options are endless. You might be surprised where your creativity takes you and find yourself exploring aspects of your therapy process that you may not have anticipated.
Self-Care
However you choose to reflect, remember to take good care of yourself after therapy sessions. Therapy often involves processing difficult and even painful experiences, this can leave us feeling tired, tender, and in need of extra care. Make a self-care plan for yourself to follow after your sessions. For example, make yourself a healthy snack, go for a walk outside, call a friend, take care of a pet, put on cozy clothes and have a comforting drink like tea, take a bath, whatever feels right for you.
References
Jones, S. (2023, July 25). The importance of reflecting after a therapy session. UK Therapy Guide. https://uktherapyguide.com/the-importance-of-reflecting-after-a-therapy-session
Koziol, C. (2021). Journaling’s impact on mental health. Journal of Undergraduate Research, XXIV, 1-12. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. https://www.uwlax.edu/globalassets/offices-services/urc/jur-online/pdf/2021/koziol.callie.eng.pdf
Stewart, S., & Schröder, T. (2015). Emotional homework: A systematic literature review of patients' intersession experiences. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 25(3), 236-252. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039639
Sutton, J. (2018, May 14). 5 benefits of journaling for mental health. Positive Psychology. https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-of-journaling/#:~:text=Journaling%20enhances%20mental%20clarity%20&%20emotional,setting%2C%20creativity%20&%20overall%20wellbeing.