What is Collaborative Therapy? - Types, Effectiveness & Benefits

A method mainly influenced by postmodernism, collaborative therapy treats individuals, families, organisations, and groups. It is a treatment procedure developed by Harlene Anderson. It defines the development of a collaborative and unbiased relationship between a person undergoing therapy and their therapist to analyse conversations that lead to a positive mindset.

Read on to know more about this therapy and the techniques involved with the procedure for treatment.

It is an alliance and approach therapy where you and the therapist work together, discuss and find solutions on how to proceed with the treatment. It depends upon various factors such as collaboration, practice, integrity, respect, and responsibility. Your therapist plays a major role here as they analyse situations from your perspective and rely on your facts to understand the instances. They then ask additional questions to figure out the issues.

The main focus of collaborative therapists is to encourage you to overcome problems through effective goal-setting. They further encourage you to identify the resources that will help you to set these goals.

Collaborative therapy is not only client-centred but a mutual understanding, where you can decide on matters related to your own life. Additionally, through the sessions, the therapists ensure that they are not imposing their own thoughts and decisions on you. They allow you to share the authentic stories that you have been experiencing. Therefore, this therapy is ideal for:

• People who have anxiety.
• Individuals suffering from bipolar disorder.
• Couples with marital issues.
• Individuals who suffer from relationship issues.
• Individuals suffering from depression.

Moreover, the therapy is also effective for couples, children, and families as it helps them to detect what causes the problems and allows them to come up with effective solutions.

There are several reasons why you must undergo this therapy. You might be a healthy-looking person but might be carrying a lot of burden within your mind and soul, which leads to mental health issues. Therefore, you require someone to share these feelings and thoughts so that you can come up with a solution to the problems. Here are the reasons to get this therapy:

• This therapy will polish your communication skills. You will be able to effectively communicate with your therapist and let them know about the issues that bother you.
• Since it is more of a philosophy, collaborative therapy enhances brainstorming skills where you become an active decision-maker.
• You can resolve complex issues or conflicts through effective decision-making.
• Additionally, you become a more responsible individual, not only towards yourself but also to others.
• You try to value your thoughts, ideas, and beliefs and start valuing others' thoughts, views and opinions.
• This therapy helps to create a strong working alliance where both your decision and your therapist's decisions matter.
• Through this, your therapist can recognise your skills and expertise, which can help them during the treatment process.

This theory has proved to be highly beneficial for parents with traumatic pasts in a child-parent relationship. These parents have reframed their previous experiences and emphasised the goal of becoming better parents so that their children do not undergo similar experiences.

More than a treatment procedure, collaborative therapy is a philosophical outlook. That is the main reason behind this therapy not having any particular types. However, it is majorly associated with the humanistic approach to psychotherapy or people-centred therapy. It is important to note that you must establish a successful collaborative relationship with your therapist during any psychotherapy session. Here are the two forms of therapy:

1. Client-Led Collaborative Therapy

Here, the client decides the topics and issues they will discuss with the therapist. This will help in prioritising the client's goals and issues. If you are undergoing this therapy, you will have to put forth the problems you are facing, and your therapist will help you find solutions for the same.

They will seek several answers that will help them understand the depth of the issue and whether they can cope with the situation. This will also help them to decide upon the techniques to assist you in dealing with your problems.

2. Therapist-Led Collaborative Therapy

In this format, your therapist leads the sessions and actively participates in decision-making. They will try to analyse you to test your beliefs and thoughts and understand how confident you are with your decisions.

In this therapy, connecting, collaborating, and constructing with each other becomes a natural and authentic procedure that generates effective results. Although there are several techniques that help a therapist to work effectively, your therapist can follow their own methods as well. Here are the techniques of collaborative therapy that they might follow:

• Mutual Conversations: You and your therapist will work together with empathy, honesty, and respect. This will help in sharing information with each other so that you can understand your issues better.
• Relational Expertise: If your therapist listens to your thoughts and feelings carefully, they can understand your perspective. In addition, since you are an expert in your own experience, it helps to address your issues better.
• Allow Clients to Be Responsible: You are the only one who will know the experience of being in a particular situation. A therapist is a new person who hears the issues. Therefore, the therapist never tries to comprehend all the aspects of the problems. This allows you to become the responsible person for setting the agenda of the discussions.
• Opening Up Thoughts: The therapist should open up about their thoughts so that you do not wonder what they think about you. These thoughts include professional, personal, or theoretical thoughts. It is all about sharing ideas about the client and is part of the therapy.
• Focus on the Moment: You might not expect your therapist to have all the answers to your queries. This means that you and your therapist must focus on the present scenario rather than constantly feeling the urge to guide each other during the process.
• Mutual Transformation: Collaborative therapy is an interactive procedure that involves communication between your therapist and you. Therefore, both should work effectively and constantly to change themselves and each other's relationships.
• Move Forward in Life: Throughout the session, your therapist will guide and help you to move forward in life and not rely on the sessions alone. This therapy is, therefore, not a separate space but a reflection of the real world.

This therapy is not tailored to help you with any specific mental disorder. It is a transformation process that applies to you if you face any problem or issue. It doesn't provide solutions to particular issues but helps clients to be aware of their thought processes during any problem. This helps them to regulate their behaviours and feelings.

This therapy could be helpful for you if you did not experience success with other techniques in the past. This might have happened due to a lack of trust in your therapist. Here, a therapist always respects your ideas and values, and you are never blamed for your behaviours or feelings.

Here is a list of benefits associated with collaborative therapy:

• Client Gains Better Insight: As you and your therapist work together in this matter and try to solve the problems in collaboration, you get a better insight into the situation. This way, you are able to identify minor issues and work together to achieve greater success.
• Increase in Client Empowerment: In this therapy, as your empowerment is greater, you tend to learn new skills and patterns. Therefore, you can apply them in real life after the sessions.
• Increases Client Engagement: As you are involved in mutual transformation, you tend to play an active role where you can understand your contribution to your issues. You are also able to understand the changes that you need to make by assigning yourself difficult tasks at home.

Since this therapy is more of a philosophy rather than a technique, the effectiveness might vary. However, there is no systematic interpretation of the effectiveness of collaborative therapy. Also, there are other processes that work with collaborative therapy, including cognitive behavioural therapy.

Following are the steps to get started with this therapy:

Step 1: You will have to discuss your goals and values, expectations, and wishes during the therapy.

Step 2: Your therapist will understand the concerns and list the issues that need discussion. They might ask you questions to further understand the depth of these issues.

Step 3: You can also list down the issues that you want to have a discussion on with your therapist.

Step 4: Discuss with the therapist over sessions to analyse and come up with effective solutions.

However, if you plan to attend online therapy sessions, you must prepare beforehand what things you need to discuss with your therapist.

This therapy might not be an effective and right approach for everyone since it inclines more towards a philosophical approach. However, you must have the urge to continue the session if you want to have a mutual understanding between you and your therapist. This means you should be motivated to attend the sessions.

Now that you know all about collaborative therapy and its benefits and techniques, you should consult a doctor and understand whether you need one. However, since it is an effective method that polishes your skills and techniques, you must try it at least once.