Ha, ha. I should have told him psychopath and been done with it.
But, no, my earlier post wasn’t very clear. I do think you should be working toward solving a problem. And I can articulate problems–yelling at my kids, for example, is something someone brought up earlier–but I felt put off at having to articulate a diagnosis, especially a diagnosis that I wasn’t sure really fit. Shouldn’t that come from him? I am just here because I keep bursting into tears when some unlucky sod mentions Niagra falls!
I mean, really. How would one even know if they were truly depressed? My understanding is that part of being depressed–clinically depressed–is that you don’t realize you’re depressed. Everyone gets a little down in the dumps. I am comfortable saying I feel depressed, but I mean it in the Charlie Brown sense of feeling blue, not myself today–or possibly even a string of days. Is that the same as being clinically depressed? I don’t know. I am pretty sure I don’t want to be the one who makes the call.
And if you can go into therapy not having a clinical diagnosis, I also think you should be able to go without having suffered a big life change, or some serious smoking gun you can point to. What if you just wanted to make some changes to your life, but weren’t sure where to start? I don’t know that that’s the same as an anxiety disorder, but it can be unsettling.
I’ve been diagnosed with Major Depression, with a Moderate Anxiety disorder. I’m sure some people miss the signs, but in my case it was fairly easy to see. i.e., I was completely dysfunctional.
“I’m sad” and “I’m depressed” are casually interchangeable phrases. Maybe that’s what your psychologist meant? If you’re sad and don’t know how to stop being sad on your own, that’s reason enough to see a therapist.
The poster wanted to be sure they were getting a Jewish therapist. If I had to choose an ethnic group to provide my therapist (or my anything really), I would definitely go Jew.
Not necessarily. If you don’t get out of bed for anything other than occasionally eating or taking a dump for three weeks, it’s kind of tough to deny you’re depressed.
Try having your therapist lose his license because the state board learns he was fucking one of his patients, who was subsequently murdered by her cop husband.
When I was looking for a therapist I Googled everyone on the list my insurance company provided. Some of them had been reviewed by other patients and some had websites. I ended up going with a woman whose website was exceptionally detailed. She laid out her process clearly and she provided information on her training along with a short biography. I got lucky in that her approach to therapy was perfect for my needs at the time. She was the third therapist I’ve been to (I moved a few times) and I found them all by Googling. Two were good and one was an old coot. 66% ain’t bad.
I’ve only had one experience with therapy (as an adult), and it was fantastic fit for a first try. I was at UCSD in grad school, and they had a group of amazing therapists, all with MD’s. The therapist I had did a good job of simply repeating statements I’d made back at myself, and forcing me to ponder why I said things that I’d said.
One interesting thing he’d always do, when I entered the office, was ask if I’d like a glass of water. And then when I’d say “Yes,” rather than get me some water, he’d indicate the cooler and say, “Help yourself.” The first time he did it, I was confused. Like, “Hmm, if you just wanted me to get it myself, why did you offer?” By the third time, I realized what he was doing; despite that realization, I’d always have a knee-jerk reaction of surprise when he’d say, “Help yourself.”
So, I got lucky. Really lucky.
Hahahahahaha… you are joking, right?
Ugh I’m going through this right now. I’ve got depression and anxiety, so things started off just GREAT when I had to call up my insurance company, sit through a bunch of awkward questions, and then get a magical referral number. I got that and then called what looked like a good therapist, but of course he’s on vacation for the next month.
For someone who has serious anxiety issues about making phone calls finding a therapist is so far not much fun. This is the first therapist I’ve been to since college (been maintaining my prozac via normal doctors), and it was easy there because I just went to the student health center.
Anyone have direct experience with therapy for anxiety? My current methodology is to look for certified psychologists that specialize in anxiety according to my hmo’s website. Seems like a reasonable strategy maybe.
What do you think he was doing? That sounds like fairly typical exchange to me.
Well, if you were to come to my house, I were to offer you a beer and you accepted, would you not expect me to reach into the fridge myself and hand you an opened bottle? Because, as a guest in my house, that’d be how I’d do it. I’d get for you what I offered you. I’d at least hand you a bottle opener; more likely, I’d grab a mug, pop open the bottle and pour it for you and everything. That’s sorta the way it works, y’know?
By beginning each session with this, he was preparing me each time, programming into my mindset, that I was the one who had to take action for the therapy to work. I was the one responsible for taking the initiative, for working through my own issues. He could show me the way, but I was the one who had to take action.
It wasn’t just this one thing, of course. The entire session was that way. But that beginning each week was a perfect microcosm of the whole thing that both set up the session and, today, well over a decade later, reminds me what the whole thing was about.
The guy was really, really fucking good at his job.
WARNING: Don’t attempt this therapy at home!
I just asked my wife if she wanted a glass of water, and when she said, “Yes,” I said, “Well, then get up and get your own goddamn water.”
She was not amused.
Just kidding. She said “fuck you.”
No, really. Kidding. That’s a clever little ploy, Rimbo. I agree the doc had his therapy cap on.
I don’t think why jellyfish think like that.
what about all the people before there was therapist? I guess prostitutes are in a way a therapists back then.
I never seen a therapist nor do I feel any inclination to see one.
Actually, I’d say that the therapists of days past were the spiritual leaders of the community (i.e., the shaman, priest, rabbi, imam, etc.).
There’s been some great advice and information about finding a psychotherapist in this thread. As usual, Sidd has nailed it. Go back and read his post if you’re still wondering.
There’s nothing wrong with people who don’t need a therapist, of course. Many well adjusted, resilient people will go through life with sufficient support from strong social ties (e.g., family, friends) during the rough patches that they will never need the services of a mental health professional. They are a rare bunch, though. Mental health problems are being diagnosed quite regularly, and not simply in the US. Is it because psychiatrists and psychologists are overdiagnosing with oversensitive tools? Perhaps. Or perhaps the type of societies we’re building are not conducive to mental health. I do wonder a bit about those who are adamantly opposed to therapy as a process, even for someone else. In my experience they’re not particularly open and that may hurt them in other domains of life.
Anaxagoras has been corrected, and rightly so. Especially in Canada, where the health care system is limited in certain ways by public resources, most psychiatrists have been shifting their focus to medication management and brief supportive therapy. The prescription of psychopharmaceuticals is an incredibly complex beast, and requires specialization. More and more of psychiatry’s focus is on that specialization. As people have mentioned, a psychiatrist goes through 4 years of medical school, which the same as any other MD, with a general focus. Then he/she does a 5 year residency, and depending on which school is training the person, the amount of specialty training can range from about 50 - 65%. How much of that 50 - 65% of the time is spent training in psychotherapy? It varies. Old school psychiatrists spent more. Modern day ones less. Accordingly, old school psychiatrists are much more likely to offer both meds and therapy. Their therapeutic approach will almost invariably be psychodynamic, in the Freudian tradition. This is what psychiatry residents were taught then, and its generally what’s passed on during their residencies.
Doctoral-level Clinical Psychologists spend roughly 6 years (2 masters, 4 PhD or 6 in a combined program) training. Depending on their training location, they may be spending a majority of that time doing research (at a research heavy institution like that which I attend, I’d say that about 55 - 60% of my time is expected to be research unless I make a deliberate effort to add more practicum training hours). Other psychologists in programs that are more clinically focused (e.g., a PsyD) may do more like 70 - 80% of their time learning clinical skills.
All of a psychologist’s clinical training is focused on assessment and psychotherapy. Many assessment tools lie within the exclusive domain of psychologists. Only a licensed psychologist can administer an IQ test and write an official report. There are other psychometric scales (e.g., for the assessment of ADHD, or learning disorders, or personality disorders) that are not exclusively restricted to psychologists in theory, but due to administration requirements end up that way. Almost all of these tests have stated expertise levels needed for their official administration, and the only programs that tend to offer these training courses are PhD, PsyD, and some EdD. I know there are Masters level Counsellors and Social Workers who may have trained in these tools, too.
The little clinical training I’ve been exposed to in my first year of my PhD has been in multidisciplinary hospital settings. The few psychiatrists I’ve met who do any kind of talk therapy follow a psychodynamic approach, with one rare exception. The exception followed the same approach as the vast majority of psychologists I’ve met: cognitive behavioural (aka CBT). Because psychologists are research focused, they tend to be evidence-based, which means that many of them have switched over to practicing CBT techniques for disorders where CBT has been shown to be effective (mood and anxiety disorders in particular). CBT is not a panacea, however. Some problems of adjustment (e.g., relationship issues), and certain personality disorders are better treated in other ways.
Then there’s been the discussion of problem-focused vs. more holistic approaches to therapy. Both have their proponents and detractors. CBT, for the most part, tends to be problem-focused and short-term. Most practitioners of CBT will not see a client for more than 20 sessions. Psychodynamic and experiential approaches tend to be more holistic, and although modern practitioners are urged to have a “contract” with their clients in terms of goals, success measures, and end-dates, these therapies can go much longer and may not have a set maximum of sessions.
As Sidd said, the relationship between client and therapist is a key component of psychotherapy. Keep shopping around until you find someone you feel you can be comfortable sharing everything with. Keeping secrets from your therapist is not going to aid your healing in any way.
Good luck!
FWIW, CBT annoyed the living hell out of me. I just argued all the time :)