When a train is stopped at a station it requires tremendous energy to get it to move out of the station. The friction between the wheels and the track are at their maximum. But slowly as the train begins to pick up speed it requires less and less energy to keep the train moving.

It is often the same in therapy. Although not always the case, progress can be slow in the beginning of therapy because of the friction of habitual ways of thinking and acting. It is important for clients to be patient with the seeming slowness of the process and it's important for the therapist to reassure the client that small changes eventually lead to bigger changes.

Another way of looking at this is the concept of the critical mass. This concept states that it is not possible to know exactly when a dramatic change is about to occur but that what is required is steady patient progress and then without any warning this process can reach a critical mass in which change can happen suddenly and dramatically.

Photo by Ryan Millier: https://www.pexels.com/photo/time-lapse-photography-of-people-inside-white-and-black-train-3229624/

I vividly recall my experience with a recent client. This client was by temperament very reserved and cautious and brought this way of operating to therapy. Each session I was wondering whether this would be the session where some significant change might occur and then without warning my client responded to some observation of mine with a startled look and all of a sudden everything seemed to fall in place for her and she took significant action in her life and therapy was completed within two more sessions.