Posted by mair on May 1, 2004, at 23:16:24
In reply to Re: A good therapist fit, posted by lonelygirl on May 1, 2004, at 14:15:05
Someone here once wrote a post about how she went about finding a new therapist, and it made me realize that I paid less attention to getting a therapist than I do to buying a piece of clothing.
I went to my first therapist (well not my very first) because he was one of the few shrinks I knew - pretty well but not so well that I would feel uncomfortable seeing him. I now question whether he was a good fit for me at all, but when I was seeing him, I don't think I'd have had it in me to question this, terminate him and find someone else.
I did stop therapy or at least really pared it down, and after awhile I decided I needed to go back into more regular therapy. I wanted to try something different, but didn't want to hurt his feelings, so I asked him for a recommendation for someone to do short term CBT with me (not his thing at all). He recommended my current therapist, whom I probably would have found on my own for no better reason than that years ago, someone had mentioned her as a good T to see. It never occurred to me to do more research or interview multiple therapists, and I'm not sure how I'd go about this even if I was a more saavy consumer.
The CBT stuff was a little bit of a red herring. She figured out pretty early on, that short term CBT was probably not going to be very effective and I've now been seeing her for 4+ years, mostly twice a week.
I think she's a good fit, but I have so little to compare that to, and my respect for boundaries is probably stronger than her need for them, so I mostly haven't allowed myself to feel a real attachment.
Pretty much my experience on how I came to see my therapists is a text book case on how not to find one, although, I think it's working out ok with my current therapist.
Mair
poster:mair
thread:341263
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040426/msgs/342348.html