How Long Does Psychotherapy Take?

It is one of the first things people ask. How long will this take? When will I feel better? Is there a course, a programme, a defined end point?

These are reasonable questions. They deserve an honest answer, not a reassuring one.

The short answer

It depends — on what you are coming for, on the depth of the work, and on what you mean by better.

Brief, structured interventions — typically 6 to 20 sessions — have a solid evidence base for specific presentations: a single episode of mild to moderate depression, a defined anxiety response, a recent and identifiable stressor. If what you are dealing with falls into this territory, short-term work may be sufficient.

For most of the presentations I see at Harley Street — complex trauma, long-standing addiction, eating disorders with deep psychological roots, personality difficulties, profound relationship patterns that have played out across decades — brief therapy is rarely adequate. Not because clinicians are being precious about the work, but because the thing being worked on did not develop quickly and does not resolve quickly.

What the research shows

The Cuijpers et al. (2024) review in World Psychiatry found significant effects across multiple presentations, but highlighted that response rates vary considerably. For complex and chronic conditions, outcomes from brief interventions are significantly weaker than for acute presentations.

Jungian analytic work has been studied in a series of naturalistic outcome studies. A landmark review by Roesler found that Jungian psychotherapy produces significant improvements in symptoms, interpersonal difficulties and personality structure — stable at follow-up for up to six years after treatment ended. Crucially, several studies showed further improvements after therapy ended. A 2025 study by Roesler and colleagues in Research in Psychotherapy confirmed these findings in a contemporary sample. The average treatment length was around 90 sessions.

The question beneath the question

When someone asks how long therapy will take, they are often asking something else: is this going to require more of me — more time, more money, more exposure — than I am prepared to give?

That is a legitimate question. What depth psychological work offers in return is not symptom reduction on a temporary basis. It is structural change — in how a person relates to themselves and to others, in the patterns that have organised their suffering, in the capacity to inhabit a life that is genuinely theirs.

“I have had clients who have worked with me for years. I have also had clients for whom a focused piece of work over six months was exactly right. The length of therapy is not a proxy for depth of commitment. It is a clinical question — and the honest answer changes from person to person.” — Philippe Jacquet

What to ask

Rather than asking how long therapy will take, a more useful question is: what do you think is happening for me, and what kind of work does that suggest? The answer — if it is honest — will tell you more than any estimated timeline.