Drop out

Drop out is the concept used to name the premature abandonment of the psychotherapeutic process by the client, that is, who unilaterally decided to stop the treatment before reaching the therapeutic goals, without mutual agreement with the therapist.

In popular opinion, it is easy to blame the therapist for the drop out. You can easily hear things like “I've been talking there for a while and it doesn't solve anything”. However, it is also common to have unrealistic healing expectations. Psychotherapy involves motivation and energy on the part of the client: a psychologist does not work magic! As much as I want to remove the symptom as quickly as possible to provide the maximum well-being to the client, this does not happen (not least because the symptom is often a defense mechanism, and if it comes out quickly, greater disorganization and despair - but that is another conversation ). Therefore, the expectation that after a few sessions they will be “cured” is not realistic. Furthermore, as I have been telling you, there are many different psychotherapeutic approaches: one may work for a client and another may not, or it may take longer to “get into the DNA”. It is true that the feeling of well-being can take time to set in, and this can mean that the therapeutic approach is not ideal, or that the client is not available for change, and that is all right.

It's hard for a therapist to digest a drop out. Usually supervising with more experienced therapists helps to understand what went wrong and what can be done to fill professional gaps, trusting that you did the best you could. I trust that even a therapeutic process that has not been completed will have an impact on both the client and the therapist: it is important to know how to digest its elements.

Ideally, the end of the process should be a mutual agreement, including a therapeutic task! Even assuming that approach is not being effective or that the therapeutic alliance is not strong enough: preserve the client's will to continue with their personal work, even with another therapist!