Help Any advice on how to find therapist?

[Moburin 29]

Maybe its not best place to ask, but I don't really have anyone else who I can turn to. So I hope you guys don't mind.

I was putting this one off for long time, but I am running out of options. I know its pretty dumb behaviour from my side, but because I had from time to time episodes, when I felt a little bit better, I was gaslighting myself. I was telling myself that I can fix it and I will get more normal with time. Well, I can't do that anymore. My state gets worse and it's really hard to deny it. I can't solve this one out. So maybe more communication and hopefully antidepressants will do me some good, who knows.

So yes, any general suggestions? Like how you are looking for therapist? Is there a way to check their reputation beforehand? Any dos and don'ts?

 

[MelancholicMundane]

psychologytoday.com is pretty good resource if you're from the US

 

[AllCatsAreGrey]

I had good luck with psych today too.

I found it helpful to play with various filters to narrow down to people that work with my demographic and needs.

I definitely like to snoop for reviews to see what others have to say.

Suggestions for do:
- Try to find a few to choose from. Most therapists offer short consultations so you feel them out. I didn't realize what I wanted in a therapist until I saw a few.
- There are tons of different approaches to therapy. Be open to different perspectives, but if their approach doesn't resonate be open to shopping around more.

Good luck in your search.

 

[space-jester]

if you can, your general physician can give you lists of ones available in your area and may even tell you who is worth trying to see.
psych today is good also
if you live in the US and have health insurance, read through the lists of covered ones and see whos nearby and what their rating is.
i would say avoid those help apps (I.e. betterhelp), just because i dont really think they have your best interests in mind, a lot of them just want the money and also i think the less a service knows about you the better for security reasons.

 

[imcurious]

If you are in college in the US (Don't know about other countries), there are on-campus therapists that you don't need to pay for. My school therapist was my first therapist personally. The only issue is that because it is high demand, you are usually put on a waitlist until you can actually start receiving help.

You can also reach out to your general physician and they can refer you to therapists that could be covered under your insurance.

And of course, you can always use psych today and navigate a therapist (virtual and in-person) while also scoping within therapists in-network if that's something you want to consider.

I really hope this helps.

 

[carnivalforone]

if you can, your general physician can give you lists of ones available in your area and may even tell you who is worth trying to see.
psych today is good also
if you live in the US and have health insurance, read through the lists of covered ones and see whos nearby and what their rating is.
i would say avoid those help apps (I.e. betterhelp), just because i dont really think they have your best interests in mind, a lot of them just want the money and also i think the less a service knows about you the better for security reasons.

i was foolish to think betterhelp would get me better help i fell for their trap but i learned from it ig

 

[Moburin 29]

I had good luck with psych today too.

I found it helpful to play with various filters to narrow down to people that work with my demographic and needs.

I definitely like to snoop for reviews to see what others have to say.

Suggestions for do:
- Try to find a few to choose from. Most therapists offer short consultations so you feel them out. I didn't realize what I wanted in a therapist until I saw a few.
- There are tons of different approaches to therapy. Be open to different perspectives, but if their approach doesn't resonate be open to shopping around more.

Good luck in your search.

Thank you! Now I feel less lost, heh. Will try it out!

if you can, your general physician can give you lists of ones available in your area and may even tell you who is worth trying to see.
psych today is good also

Sounds like a good variant, thank you!

i was foolish to think betterhelp would get me better help i fell for their trap but i learned from it ig

So how did it went wrong if you don't mind me asking?

 

[claraisnotcarol]

Maybe its not best place to ask, but I don't really have anyone else who I can turn to. So I hope you guys don't mind.

I was putting this one off for long time, but I am running out of options. I know its pretty dumb behaviour from my side, but because I had from time to time episodes, when I felt a little bit better, I was gaslighting myself. I was telling myself that I can fix it and I will get more normal with time. Well, I can't do that anymore. My state gets worse and it's really hard to deny it. I can't solve this one out. So maybe more communication and hopefully antidepressants will do me some good, who knows.

So yes, any general suggestions? Like how you are looking for therapist? Is there a way to check their reputation beforehand? Any dos and don'ts?

it seems like you are from the US, but since I am from Spain and I have social security, if you are from Europe (or if you have health insurance) tell me and maybe I can give you some advise!

 

[Moburin 29]

it seems like you are from the US, but since I am from Spain and I have social security, if you are from Europe (or if you have health insurance) tell me and maybe I can give you some advise!

O, hi there!

So is the process of therapist searching different in EU ? Of course internet resources will not be same, but there shouldn't be much of a difference in procedure itself, right?

By the way, welcome to sasu. I see you have a good taste in anime))

 

[claraisnotcarol]

O, hi there!

So is the process of therapist searching different in EU ? Of course internet resources will not be same, but there shouldn't be much of a difference in procedure itself, right?

By the way, welcome to sasu. I see you have a good taste in anime))

first of all, thank you for the compliment, I'm so so flattered!
okay so since here we have free health care, we can access therapists and psyquiatrics (or in case of being impatient for free). the process is quite slow and tiring, but it's definetely worth it. Although, always is better go to the private way in terms of quality and time. In that case, it's not for free, but is very cheaper, even than better help.
What I mean is that even if we end up changing to private, it's all because we know each other probably from free therapy, and we recommend each other which one help us best. And, from starters, we've already had some therapy with our social security.
Sorry, I'm rambling a looooooot.
But! I definetely definitely recommend in you're case searching for online therapy. Not betterhelp or companies because they want your money more than actually help you, but someone more "freelance". It's cheaper and more personal and they usually are more passionate about they work.
(Sorry this has been more of a Spanish health care lesson that an actual advise )

first of all, thank you for the compliment, I'm so so flattered!
okay so since here we have free health care, we can access therapists and psyquiatrics (or in case of being impatient for free). the process is quite slow and tiring, but it's definetely worth it. Although, always is better go to the private way in terms of quality and time. In that case, it's not for free, but is very cheaper, even than better help.
What I mean is that even if we end up changing to private, it's all because we know each other probably from free therapy, and we recommend each other which one help us best. And, from starters, we've already had some therapy with our social security.
Sorry, I'm rambling a looooooot.
But! I definetely definitely recommend in you're case searching for online therapy. Not betterhelp or companies because they want your money more than actually help you, but someone more "freelance". It's cheaper and more personal and they usually are more passionate about they work.
(Sorry this has been more of a Spanish health care lesson that an actual advise )

find someone that used something like betterhelp and try to find out between every one online therapist. since someone have had very bad experiences with it, I'm sure someone will have found a better solution (maybe start a thread whitt that?)

 

[Moburin 29]

(Sorry this has been more of a Spanish health care lesson that an actual advise )

Nah, don't worry. It was pretty interesting. Thank you for taking your time and explaining this to me )

 

[prezmyl]

I can only advise to be critical in progress evaluation, set up some milestones to validate the progress so that you are not wasting your life time on some methods that helps you just a little.
Be sure to check on the most recent therapy trends as I posted it around many times. Especially those that operates with all layers: body, emotions, mind in some carful sensitive way and have also most recent biological, neurological and physiological knowledge of nervous system and how it works. I spent many years in classic therapies to find out that there is not a deeper knowledge of human psyche, not enough for my case though. If you read some of my old posts you can find out more, if intrested.
good luck

 

[Moburin 29]

I can only advise to be critical in progress evaluation, set up some milestones to validate the progress so that you are not wasting your life time on some methods that helps you just a little.
Be sure to check on the most recent therapy trends as I posted it around many times. Especially those that operates with all layers: body, emotions, mind in some carful sensitive way and have also most recent biological, neurological and physiological knowledge of nervous system and how it works. I spent many years in classic therapies to find out that there is not a deeper knowledge of human psyche, not enough for my case though. If you read some of my old posts you can find out more, if intrested.
good luck

Heh, I feel like it's getting more and more complicated. But it sounds interesting So yeah, thank you for throwing directions for research at me. I will look into it.

 

[FatalSystemError591]

The way I suggest starting is in one of two ways:

If in the past you've already been diagnosed with something, look up therapy techniques that can help the thing you're most troubled with. For me, it's PTSD. EMDR and a couple other therapy techniques are great for that, so it can be as simple as "EMDR therapists near me" into your favorite search engine.

Or maybe you hate leaving your house and want something as close to home as possible, could call around and ask places for their availability, and if you have the other step done already you can ask for example: "Do you have therapists with openings that are trained in EMDR", or DBT, or whatever you've found if you went through that step.

If not, every therapist I've seen has an Intake section where you chat with someone about what problems you face and they tend to be really good about matching you up with someone who fits what problems you might look for.

And then once you're paired with someone, they'll also do their own separate intake and go over what will be a game plan of treatment for what they think will be best for you.

Don't be afraid to look around for therapists, if something doesn't mesh well, there are many more out there. Good luck!

 

[gonnaregretthis]

My tips

-Look for clinics you can get to that have multiple mental health services that take your insurance. If you end up interested in meds later on it could be a whole thing to have a therapist AND a psych and have them at different places.

-ask a friend where they get their therapy from. do NOT tell the therapist or clinic or whatever you found them from a friend unless you end up trusting them. just ask around and see where people YOU trust trust mental health services

-do not be afraid to be picky. if you have a weird first session you dont have to come back. prepare some back ups

finding a new therapist is emotionally exhausting and can definitely make you wanna doe so i really hope you and anyone going through this process can take the time and understand that this stress is not your fault. best of luck.