Individual Counseling in Marietta, GA

When individuals are open to feeling better, examining their thoughts, choices, and responses, taking responsibility for their choices, and exploring making changes, then individual counseling is usually very effective. 

The counseling is designed to help individuals: learn about how their past choices affect them now; take responsibility for their actions; decrease negative reactivity; resolve unrealistic frustrations; increase hope and compassion; and develop more resiliency.

Research shows that distressed individuals who eagerly participate in the counseling process are more likely to feel happier and more content after their counseling than similar individuals who have not received counseling.

Anyone who is unhappy and is open to making the kind of changes that would lessen their distress and increase their happiness can benefit from individual counseling.

The length of counseling varies with each individual and with the specific goals that an individual has.  The length often depends on what experiences each person has had previously, how damaged the individual feels, the individual’s personality style and current coping strategies, and how open and willing the individual is to learn the skills that might mitigate their unhappiness.  As individuals near the end of therapy, it’s usual for them to spread out their sessions.

Although there are many different types of therapy, the primary three theoretical approaches are psychodynamic, humanistic-existential, and cognitive-behavioral approaches.

Psychodynamic therapy draws on psychoanalytic (or Freudian) principles and techniques. This includes examining and resolving unconscious conflicts. The client's early history is seen as extremely important in the formation of the character structure of the person. There is an assumption that the client will be able to make desired changes only after the underlying causes are resolved.

Humanist-Existential psychotherapy considers the whole person (mind, body, and spirit) and focuses on helping the client to heal themselves and work toward a more authentic self. It aims at enabling a client to find constructive ways to better deal with the challenges of life, and focuses on the client's individual experience of distress, and leads to exploring and clarifying beliefs and values. It examines core issues including freedom vs. responsibility, isolation, and meaninglessness. It respects the importance of the past, present, and future.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on helping clients identify and examine unrealistic and faulty beliefs, distressing emotions, and ineffective behaviors. The client learns to think more realistically, which will lead to feeling better, and then chooses more effective actions. In this system, the present and the future is more important than the past.

Since no one therapy approach works for all people and for all problems, Dr. Joan Miller borrows from the different approaches to help clients based on their situations and needs.

Costs vary depending on the therapist’s education, experience and location.  The average cost of individual counseling in Georgia ranges from about $85 to $350 per 50-minute session. Most clients recognize that counseling is an investment in themselves as well as their future.