英文原文
Good therapy can seem like magic. You sit in your therapist’s office and talk and things in your life start to get better. You don’t get as upset during conversations with your partner and don’t get as stressed out at work. You finally start dealing with that bad habit that’s been holding you back and are feeling creative again.
How can therapy do this? While there’s an art to therapy, there’s a science to it, too, and specific things you can do to increase your chances of success. In this article, we explore an often-overlooked way to improve your outcomes in therapy: setting tangible and measurable goals.
It’s possible to take even the vaguest or most poetic motivations for therapy and set goals based on them that you can use to track your progress. This can prevent you from getting blocked or stuck in therapy or having no idea if it’s working or not.
Read on for tips on how you can set goals for therapy. By following these steps, you can come up with a list of personally meaningful goals that can keep your work in therapy focused and productive.
1. Start by identifying broad motives, hopes, and dreams.
At your first therapy session, when your therapist asks, “What brings you to therapy?” the first thing that comes to mind might be a simple, heartfelt statement like, “I just want to be happy,” or “I feel stuck,” or “I’m tired of just going through the motions.”
These statements express deep feelings that are important to connect to and work with in therapy. Just saying them to a therapist can kickstart a process of change, growth, and healing. But they’re too vague to make effective goals.
To help transform these powerful yearnings into more specific goals, ask yourself: What does being happy look like for you? What specific struggles make you feel stuck? Taking time to reflect on these questions can be therapeutic in itself.
One way to develop goals is to brainstorm and write down as many reasons for coming to therapy as you can. Whether you’re writing in paragraphs or making a mind map, the simple process of getting your ideas down on paper (or on a screen) can help you clarify them. It can help to start with a prompt.
2. Choose a theme to focus on.
You might come to therapy feeling like your life is a total disaster. Where do you even begin if you’re having serious problems at work and at home and your bad habits are affecting your health, your finances, and your relationships?
How do you pick just one thing to work on if you're having trouble getting on track with anything?
It’s okay to walk into your therapist’s office and say, “I’m a total wreck. Can we fix everything?” Your therapist will be sympathetic, want to help, and be ready to listen to you describe the problems you’re having. But you’ll be more successful if you ask your therapist to help you find specific issues to focus on.
If you’re falling behind at work and snapping at your partner or children, for example, you might be able to connect these issues to a particular habit or behavior you want to change. It might also be related to a specific cause that you can address in therapy, such as stress, depression, or guilt. Your therapist is trained to identify root problems and can help you if you’re overwhelmed or uncertain how to proceed.
3. Narrow your theme into one or more specific goals.
Sometimes, it’s easy to identify specific goals for therapy. Sometimes it takes a little more work. Often, it’s a matter of finding the right term.
“I want to figure out if I’m depressed” is easier to turn into an effective goal than “Something just seems to be wrong.” Either one is a fine place to start, but it’s easier to identify symptoms of depression than to identify a needle in the emotional haystack of “Something is wrong.”
4. Make your goals concrete, measurable, and SMART.
The idea of SMART goals comes from the corporate world, but it’s a good frame of reference for any process of goal formation. It helps you avoid the trap of making goals that are too fuzzy to measure.
Of course, it’s okay to have fuzzy therapy goals, especially in the beginning. In fact, your goals are likely to change over the course of therapy, as therapy is a process of gaining self-knowledge. However, having only vague goals can make therapy frustrating, especially if you’re not planning on being in therapy for a long time.
Think of it as “both/and,” not “either/or.” You can come to therapy to explore deep questions that aren’t concrete or measurable, and enjoy the slow process of getting to know yourself as you change and grow, while also having some specific, concrete things you’re working on.
A SMART goal is: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.
These aspects make it easier to know whether you’ve achieved your goal, and they also make it easier to track your progress.
For a goal to be measurable, it has to be specific. Goals that are both measurable and specific are concrete. You can visualize concrete goals and mark exactly when you’ve met them.
For example, “I want to get up every morning by 7:00 AM” is much more concrete than “I want to stop sleeping late.” Saying, “I want to stop binging on Little Debbie and start going to the gym at least twice a week” is more concrete than “I want to be healthier.”
Time is an important factor in any goal-setting process. If you’re not sure how long it should take to achieve a major therapeutic goal, break it up into smaller goals. For example, instead of saying, “I want to cure my social anxiety completely in one year,” you can say, “I want to go to at least two social events in the next month” or “I want to get out of the house at least once a day for the next week.”
It’s okay if you don’t achieve your goals right away; part of the process of growth is learning what didn’t work and trying again when you don’t succeed the first time.
5. Create an action plan to track and achieve your goals.
Once you’ve identified one or more important goals you want to achieve in therapy, you can work together with your therapist to come up with an action plan.
In fact, many therapists are required to do this as part of the treatment planning process for their agencies. In general, a treatment plan includes major goals, smaller objectives you can use to track your progress toward these goals, and the methods you’ll use to facilitate change.
There are many ways to track progress in therapy, but it helps if you take the time to identify your therapeutic goals first. It’s even better if you share your goals with your therapist and use them to develop a formal therapy plan.
Your therapist may have already written up a treatment plan for you based on what you told them you wanted to achieve in therapy. You can ask them to see it, or you can just ask to go through and discuss the goals they’ve written down to see if those are the goals you want to track at home, too.
If you haven’t found a therapist yet, you can use the search feature on OpenCounseling to find affordable therapy in your area or sign up for affordable online therapy with BetterHelp. If you can figure out your goals before you even start therapy, you’re sure to hit the ground running!
中文翻译
好的治疗可能看起来像魔法。你坐在治疗师的办公室里交谈，生活中的事情开始变得更好。你在与伴侣交谈时不再那么沮丧，工作中也不再那么压力山大。你终于开始处理那些一直阻碍你的坏习惯，并重新感受到创造力。
治疗如何做到这一点？虽然治疗有艺术性，但也有科学性，你可以做一些具体的事情来提高成功的机会。在本文中，我们探讨了一种常被忽视的提高治疗效果的方法：设定具体且可衡量的目标。
即使是最模糊或最诗意的治疗动机，也可以基于它们设定目标，用来跟踪进展。这可以防止你在治疗中受阻或停滞，或者不知道治疗是否有效。
继续阅读关于如何设定治疗目标的技巧。通过遵循这些步骤，你可以列出一份个人有意义的目标清单，使治疗工作保持专注和高效。
1. 从识别广泛的动机、希望和梦想开始。
在第一次治疗会话中，当治疗师问“是什么让你来治疗？”时，你首先想到的可能是一个简单、真诚的陈述，比如“我只想快乐”，或“我感觉被困住了”，或“我厌倦了只是按部就班”。
这些陈述表达了深层感受，在治疗中连接和处理它们很重要。仅仅向治疗师说出这些就能启动改变、成长和治愈的过程。但它们太模糊，无法成为有效的目标。
为了帮助将这些强烈的渴望转化为更具体的目标，问问自己：对你来说，快乐是什么样子？哪些具体的挣扎让你感觉被困住？花时间反思这些问题本身就有治疗作用。
制定目标的一种方法是头脑风暴，写下尽可能多的来治疗的原因。无论你是写段落还是做思维导图，简单地将想法写在纸上（或屏幕上）的过程可以帮助你澄清它们。从一个提示开始可能有所帮助。
2. 选择一个主题来关注。
你可能来治疗时感觉生活一团糟。如果你在工作中和家里都有严重问题，坏习惯影响健康、财务和人际关系，你甚至从哪里开始？
如果你在各方面都难以步入正轨，如何只选一件事来努力？
走进治疗师的办公室说“我完全崩溃了，我们能解决一切吗？”是可以的。你的治疗师会同情，想帮助，并准备好听你描述问题。但如果你请治疗师帮你找到具体问题来关注，你会更成功。
例如，如果你工作落后，对伴侣或孩子发火，你可能能够将这些与你想改变的特定习惯或行为联系起来。它也可能与治疗中可以解决的具体原因有关，如压力、抑郁或内疚。你的治疗师受过培训，能识别根本问题，如果你不知所措或不确定如何继续，可以帮你。
3. 将主题缩小为一个或多个具体目标。
有时，很容易识别治疗的具体目标。有时需要更多努力。通常，这是找到正确术语的问题。
“我想弄清楚我是否抑郁”比“好像有什么不对劲”更容易转化为有效目标。两者都是好的起点，但识别抑郁症状比在“有什么不对劲”的情感干草堆中找针更容易。
4. 使目标具体、可衡量和SMART。
SMART目标的概念来自企业界，但对于任何目标形成过程都是一个好的参考框架。它帮助你避免设定太模糊而无法衡量的目标。
当然，有模糊的治疗目标是可以的，尤其是在开始时。事实上，你的目标可能在治疗过程中改变，因为治疗是获得自我认识的过程。然而，只有模糊目标可能使治疗令人沮丧，特别是如果你不打算长期治疗。
将其视为“两者兼有”，而不是“非此即彼”。你可以来治疗探索不具体或不可衡量的深层问题，享受在改变和成长中了解自己的缓慢过程，同时也有一些具体、具体的事情在努力。
SMART目标是：具体、可衡量、可实现、相关、有时限。
这些方面使你知道是否实现了目标，也更容易跟踪进展。
目标要可衡量，必须具体。既可衡量又具体的目标是具体的。你可以可视化具体目标，并准确标记何时实现它们。
例如，“我想每天早上7点起床”比“我想不再睡懒觉”具体得多。说“我想不再暴食小黛比，开始每周至少去健身房两次”比“我想更健康”更具体。
时间是任何目标设定过程中的重要因素。如果你不确定实现主要治疗目标需要多长时间，将其分解为更小的目标。例如，与其说“我想在一年内完全治愈社交焦虑”，你可以说“我想在下个月至少参加两个社交活动”或“我想在下周每天至少出门一次”。
如果你没有立即实现目标，没关系；成长过程的一部分是学习什么没奏效，并在第一次不成功时再试一次。
5. 创建行动计划来跟踪和实现目标。
一旦你确定了一个或多个想在治疗中实现的重要目标，你可以与治疗师合作制定行动计划。
事实上，许多治疗师被要求这样做，作为其机构治疗计划过程的一部分。通常，治疗计划包括主要目标、用于跟踪进展的较小目标，以及促进改变的方法。
有许多方法可以跟踪治疗进展，但如果你花时间先确定治疗目标，会有所帮助。如果你与治疗师分享目标并用它们制定正式治疗计划，甚至更好。
你的治疗师可能已经根据你告诉他们的治疗目标为你写了一份治疗计划。你可以要求查看，或者只是要求通读并讨论他们写下的目标，看看这些是否也是你想在家跟踪的目标。
如果你还没有找到治疗师，你可以使用OpenCounseling的搜索功能在你所在地区找到负担得起的治疗，或注册BetterHelp的负担得起的在线治疗。如果你能在开始治疗前就弄清楚目标，你肯定会顺利起步！
文章概要
本文介绍了设定治疗目标的分步指南，强调通过具体、可衡量的目标来提高治疗效果。文章从识别广泛动机开始，逐步引导读者选择主题、缩小为具体目标、使用SMART原则使目标具体化，并制定行动计划。结合关键词“Techniques for setting incremental goals in therapy”，文章突出了分步设定目标的重要性，帮助读者在治疗中保持专注和可追踪进展，避免模糊目标导致的停滞。
高德明老师的评价
用12岁初中生可以听懂的语音来重复翻译的内容：这篇文章就像一本魔法书，教你如何把“我想变好”这样的大愿望变成小步骤，比如“每天早起”或“每周运动两次”，这样你就能看到自己一点点进步，感觉越来越棒！
焦点解决心理学理论评价：从焦点解决心理学视角看，这篇文章完美体现了目标导向和资源聚焦的原则。它鼓励个体从模糊的愿望出发，通过具体化、可衡量的步骤，将问题转化为可实现的解决方案，强调个人能动性和未来可能性，而非纠缠于过去问题，这与SFBT的核心理念高度一致。
在实践上可以应用的领域和可以解决人们的十个问题：这篇文章的技巧可应用于个人成长、职场压力管理、人际关系改善、情绪调节、习惯养成、心理健康维护、学习效率提升、家庭和谐、自我探索和创意激发等领域。它能帮助人们解决以下十个问题：1. 感觉生活停滞不前；2. 难以设定明确目标；3. 治疗进展缓慢；4. 压力过大无法应对；5. 人际关系冲突；6. 坏习惯难以改变；7. 缺乏动力和创造力；8. 不确定治疗是否有效；9. 自我认知模糊；10. 实现长期愿望的困难。