What are Therapy Sessions?

A therapy session is the period of time when a person is actively engaged in therapy. Therapy sessions can be for any type of treatment including certain intravenous drug therapies, hydrotherapy, mental therapy or counseling, or physical therapy. The type of therapy may determine the length of the session and type of need can determine how many sessions in total people will undergo.

Many therapy sessions last for about an hour. This is true of a number of physical therapy treatments and of things like counseling. Most people will want to know exactly how long each session takes, since the majority of people have busy lives and must figure out how to arrange their schedules. Usually schedule concerns give way to what the person or clinic conducting the session is able to do. Since they must schedule multiple people, it isn’t always possible to find a perfect fit, and health concerns may be too vital to walk away from an offered time.

Another thing that may vary with different forms of treatment is the interval between therapy sessions. Sometimes this is left up to the person. For instance, people might choose to see counselors every other week. Other times, the therapy must occur at regular and specific intervals. Chemotherapy and physical therapy are examples of this.

How long therapy sessions are needed is another variable. Some people pursue counseling for years, especially psychoanalysis, and might attend several sessions a week. Other things like chemo may be for a specific amount of time and then discontinued. Alternately, the total number of sessions might be based on progress of the treatment.

One of the reasons people may be concerned about therapy sessions is because insurance companies and government insurance may limit the amount of sessions a person can have. This is true for things like mental health counseling, particularly when the underlying cause is not biologically based. New changes in the rules in the US now demand that insurance companies offer parity coverage for biologically based mental conditions, and session amount can’t be limited.

However, even when coverage is extended, payment for sessions is often treated much like seeing a doctor. People may have to make a copayment or pay coinsurance each time they get a session. These costs may quickly add up. Sometimes when costs are prohibitive it is possible to talk to the person or clinic conducting the session to ask for reduced copayment or coinsurance fee. Not all are open to this.