The First Session

Abstract

The initial contacts between patients and their therapists are among the most compelling and influential moments in a treatment experience. The ways in which a therapist arranges for referrals, and handles the first telephone call and first session, are overflowing with both conscious and unconscious meanings and consequences. These interventions tend to set the tone for all of the therapeutic work that’s to follow — if any. Indeed, the manner in which these opening moments are handled will not only determine whether a patient agrees to enter treatment, but will also speak for how the therapist will go about helping the patient to find relief from his or her emotional difficulties.