Why You Should Fill Out That Form From Your Therapist

You made it to your first therapy session. Congratulations!

Imagine that at the end of the session, your therapist asks you to fill out a form with seven or nine questions on it. Instead of thinking, “No more paperwork, please!” I challenge you to think about this as a way to take charge of your care and ensure that you get what you want out of therapy.

What Therapeutic Purpose Do These Forms Serve?

They are a part of feedback-informed care, which is exactly what it sounds like: Therapists use your feedback to inform your care plan. And it works. Research shows that by participating in your own care by giving regular feedback to your therapist, you are more likely to feel relief from the symptoms that brought you to therapy in the first place.

How Does Feedback Work?

Typically, your therapist will ask you to fill out a form that asks questions about symptoms you are experiencing. These questions help your therapist get a better picture of what is going on so that they can recommend the best treatment plan.

Traditionally, this is where the story ends. What I challenge you to do is to continue answering those same questions over time so that you and your therapist can track if their treatment is helping.

If you were trying to lose weight with a personal trainer, you would weigh yourself at home in order to know if you were getting the results you expected. These questions can be used similarly; they are like checking in on the same scale week after week to make sure that things are moving in the right direction.

Is There a Way to Track My Connection with My Therapist?

Yes! In addition to symptom-related forms, your therapist may also ask you to fill out a questionnaire about your connection with them. Specifically, it asks questions about whether you feel that you two are a good fit for one another, something clinicians like me would call the “therapeutic alliance,” one of the best ways to determine if you’re going to get better with that therapist.

We always hope it works out with the first therapist we find, but it is completely normal to try one therapist and end up with another. Assessing your connection with your therapist can help determine if it’s time to find someone new.

Why Do These Forms Help in Therapy?

Because therapy is so dependent upon human connection and communication, it is important to have a consistent way to track your progress while holding you and your therapist accountable for improvement. And, because we are all human, your provider’s perception of how well or not well you are doing isn’t always accurate.

Research has shown that therapists sometimes overestimate how much better you've gotten, and sometimes won't notice a slight worsening of your symptoms. Using these tools helps keep the focus of care on the symptoms that matter to you.

Forms as Confidence-Builders

When we enter into a relationship with a therapist, it can be as intimidating as making a new friend or going on a first date. We don’t know how much or how little to share because we’re trying to navigate the relationship and understand whether we can trust that person.

These questionnaires can offer a more comfortable way to honestly share where you’re at while building the relationship. Often, clients say that pausing to think about how their symptoms are and how the relationship with their therapist is going helps them to prepare for sessions and get more value from their work in session.

Forms as Conversation-Starters

That is one of the best ways to use them. These questionnaires can help you engage with your therapist when you don’t feel equipped with the right words. They are designed to assess your day-to-day functioning and how often you feel symptoms or feelings of self-harm, equipping you with something you can read back to your provider to get a conversation started about your ability to complete daily tasks, or feelings impacting your relationships with others, for example.

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The scores from these forms shouldn’t be a secret. You should see them and use them to help partner with your provider. If your provider isn’t tracking how you experience your symptoms, sharing this information with you, and using it to guide your treatment, I encourage you to ask for them to engage in this feedback practice with you.

The Bottom Line

Consistently filling out these questionnaires may feel like just another piece of healthcare paperwork when in fact they can show, over time, whether you’re making progress on your symptoms and how you’re functioning—or not. When searching for a therapist or psychiatric provider, ask them if they use feedback-informed care. Participating in your care is an excellent way to prioritize your mental well-being.

To find a therapist near you, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.