Why Have Goals In Therapy

In order to know which direction to go in, you have to know where you want to end up. There is a very wise anecdote from the childhood story Alice In Wonderland. Alice is lost and is at a fork in the road, there she sees Cheshire Cat. The exchange goes as follows: Alice asks the cat which way she should go. He responds by asking her where she is trying to get to. Alice says, “oh it doesn’t really matter.” And then Cheshire Cat says, “well then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” While this is a children’s book, the wisdom in this scene depicts a universally powerful reality.

This is true in all of life, and this is especially true when it comes to therapy. In order for the therapist to provide the most effective therapy and the client to gain the most out of the therapeutic experience, it is helpful to start off this journey with direction. Going into therapy with a list of goals, or working with your therapist to create goals together allows the process to follow a tailor made, structured, treatment plan. 

Evidence based therapies are designed to provide you with quality care which is collaborative, structured and driven by measurable change and improvements.. This means that your therapist wants you to get better within a time-frame. When you set up clear goals, either before or at the beginning of therapy, you give yourself a guide to how the therapy should look. As the recipient of the therapy, you want to be an informed consumer. This means knowing what you are signing up for before and during the duration of your treatment. Ask your therapist if she feels that she can help you reach your goals and around how long she believes it will take. Hold both your therapist and yourself accountable for working towards and reaching your goals, to ensure quality and successful treatment. Allow for flexibility as therapy is a collaborative and goals are evolving. If you do decide to change your goals or add a new one, refer back to your goal list and edit or add it there.

So how do you actually do it? How do you clarify your goals? First, grab a pen and paper, then ask yourself the following questions.

1. What behaviors do you want to see a change in – is there a particular action which has become habitual or a behavior pattern which feels beyond your control? Can you identify what those behaviors are, and how much they are interfering with your life? What progress would you like to make with these behaviors? 

2. Are there any unhelpful beliefs or thoughts which you notice keep coming up – how often do these thoughts come up, and how controlled do you feel by them? Do these thought patterns and ways of thinking cause any avoidance in your life? If so, which people/places are you avoiding? 

3. What is holding you back – do you notice something getting in the way of you feeling like you are living your values? Do you feel like you have a hard time understanding your emotions and are left feeling stuck? Do you notice a relationship pattern which you want to break out of? 

4. Where do you want to be in a year from now – if you could envision yourself a year from today what would look different? How do you hope to respond to difficult emotions? What do you want the background noise in your head to sound like? 

Once you have done some self reflection on overall areas you want to work on, the next step is to break down your goals using behaviorally specific language. Doing this will help you create measurable, treatable goals. Behaviorally specific goals are observable, for instance: instead of saying “I want to feel better,” you can say “I want to get out of bed in the morning before 8:30am.” Defining actions that you can take towards your goal sets clear guidelines to work towards. It is therefore helpful to focus on what you can do instead of what you don’t want to be doing anymore. Instead of saying, “I don’t want to procrastinate anymore,” try framing it as, “I would like to submit my assignments three days before the deadline.”