How Long Does Therapy Take? An Honest Answer

"How long will this take?"

It's one of the most common questions I get from people considering therapy. And the honest answer — "it depends" — can feel unsatisfying. Like I'm dodging the question, or keeping things deliberately vague so I can keep charging you indefinitely.

I want to give you a more complete answer. Not because I can predict exactly how long your therapy will take, but because I can explain what "open-ended" actually means, what affects duration, and how you'll know when you're done.

Why people ask this question

The question makes complete sense. You're considering a significant investment — of time, money, and emotional energy. You want to know what you're signing up for.

Maybe you're trying to budget. At £60 per session, weekly therapy adds up. You need to know if this is a three-month expense or a three-year one.

Maybe you're anxious about commitment. Signing up for something with no end date feels daunting. What if you want to stop? What if it's not working?

Maybe you just want to know when you'll feel better. You're struggling now, and you want to know when that will change.

All of these are legitimate concerns. Let me address them as honestly as I can.

What "open-ended" actually means

Psychodynamic therapy is typically open-ended. This means we don't set a fixed number of sessions at the start. We work together for however long the work takes.

This isn't the same as "forever." Open-ended doesn't mean there's no end — it means we don't predetermine where the end will fall.

Think of it this way: if you were learning a musical instrument, you wouldn't ask "exactly how many lessons until I'm good?" The answer depends on where you're starting, how much you practice, what "good" means to you, and factors neither of us can predict in advance.

Therapy is similar. The endpoint isn't arbitrary — it emerges from the work itself.

Open-ended also doesn't mean aimless. We're always working toward something, even if we don't have a predetermined endpoint. You'll know we're making progress because things will start to shift — in how you feel, how you relate to yourself, how you handle situations that used to derail you.

The case for not rushing

I understand the appeal of short-term therapy. Six sessions to fix your anxiety. Eight weeks to overcome depression. It sounds efficient. It sounds manageable.

For some issues, short-term approaches work well. If you have a specific phobia and want to overcome it, a few sessions of targeted exposure therapy might do the job. If you need to learn a specific skill — assertiveness, relaxation techniques — a brief intervention can help.

But for deeper patterns — the ones that keep showing up in your life despite your best efforts — short-term work often falls short.

Here's the thing: the patterns that bring most people to therapy took years to develop. They formed in childhood, in early relationships, in the accumulated experiences of your life. They're not thoughts you can simply replace with better thoughts. They're ways of being that are woven into how you see yourself and the world.

Shifting these patterns requires time. Not because therapy is inefficient, but because the human psyche doesn't change quickly. You can have insight in a moment, but integrating that insight — actually living differently — takes longer.

I've seen people who did short-term therapy, felt better for a while, and then found themselves back in the same patterns six months later. The symptoms were addressed; the underlying pattern wasn't.

What affects how long therapy takes

Several factors influence duration:

What you're working on. Adjusting to a recent life change might take months. Understanding and shifting patterns from childhood might take years. The depth of the work affects the time.

Your history. If you're working with early attachment wounds, developmental trauma, or long-standing patterns, the work typically takes longer. Not because you're "more broken," but because there's more to untangle.

What's happening in your life. Therapy doesn't happen in a vacuum. Major life events — a job change, a relationship ending, a health crisis — can both accelerate and complicate the work.

How often you come. I work with clients weekly. Some therapists see clients twice a week for more intensive work. More frequent sessions generally mean faster progress, though "faster" is relative.

Your readiness to engage. Therapy isn't a passive process. The more you bring to it — the more honestly you explore, the more you sit with discomfort, the more you try things differently between sessions — the more you get from it.

The structure: weekly sessions

I see clients weekly. This isn't arbitrary — there's a reason psychodynamic therapy traditionally happens at this frequency.

Weekly sessions create continuity. The work builds on itself. What we discussed last week is still fresh; we can pick up threads and follow them deeper. You're not starting from scratch each time.

Weekly sessions also create a relationship. Therapy works through the therapeutic relationship, and relationships develop through consistent contact. Meeting sporadically — every few weeks, when you're struggling — doesn't allow the same depth to develop.

If weekly isn't possible for you due to finances or scheduling, we can discuss alternatives. But I want to be honest: the work goes differently at different frequencies.

How you'll know when you're done

There's no graduation ceremony. No bell that rings. But you'll know.

The things that brought you to therapy will feel different. The anxiety that used to dominate will still appear sometimes, but it won't run your life. The patterns you kept repeating will become visible, and you'll have more choice about whether to follow them.

You'll notice that sessions feel different. The urgent need to process will ease. You'll bring material that's more about consolidation than crisis. Gaps between sessions will feel less difficult.

Often, the ending emerges gradually. You might notice you have less to bring to sessions. You might start thinking about what life looks like without therapy. These thoughts are part of the work, not signs of failure.

When we're approaching the end, we'll talk about it. We'll set an ending date and use the remaining sessions to consolidate what you've learned, address any lingering issues, and say goodbye properly. Endings matter in psychodynamic therapy — how we end is part of the work.

Who open-ended therapy isn't for

I believe in being honest about fit. Open-ended, psychodynamic therapy isn't for everyone. I've written more about whether this approach might suit you.

If you want a specific skill. If you need to learn assertiveness techniques, or want a structured program for social anxiety, a short-term, skills-focused approach might serve you better.

If you want quick results. Some situations need fast intervention. If you're in crisis, you might need stabilisation before deeper work is appropriate.

If structure helps you. Some people do better with clear goals, measurable progress, and a defined endpoint. That's legitimate. Psychodynamic therapy is more exploratory, which suits some people and frustrates others.

If the commitment isn't possible. Weekly sessions at £60 is a significant commitment. If that's not feasible for you, it's better to know upfront than to start something you can't sustain.

The practical side: cost and commitment

I charge £60 per session. Sessions are typically weekly, lasting 50 minutes.

If you're in therapy for six months, that's roughly £1,300. For a year, roughly £2,600. For two years, roughly £5,200.

These numbers are significant. I don't pretend otherwise.

What I can say is that therapy is an investment in yourself — in understanding yourself better, in shifting patterns that have been costing you in other ways, in reducing future suffering. The women I work with often tell me, looking back, that it was worth it.

But I also want you to go in with eyes open. If weekly therapy isn't financially sustainable for you, let's talk about it. Sometimes we can find a frequency that works. Sometimes I can suggest lower-cost alternatives. I'd rather have an honest conversation than have you start something you'll need to stop prematurely.

If you're considering it

I work with children, teenagers, young adults, and adults through their 30s. I offer therapy in person in Colchester and online across the UK for those aged 16 and over.

If you're curious about psychodynamic therapy — even if you're uncertain about the commitment — the first step is a free 15-minute call. We can talk about what you're looking for, I can give you a sense of how I work, and you can decide if it feels worth exploring further.

There's no pressure on that call. You're not committing to anything. You're just gathering information.

How long does therapy take? It depends — on you, on what you're working on, on factors we can't predict. What I can tell you is that the work, when it works, is worth the time it takes.