Posted by fallsfall on September 15, 2003, at 8:06:43
In reply to finding a new therapist/ pdoc, posted by Budgie on September 15, 2003, at 2:03:30
Trial and error is a hard way to find a therapist and pdoc.
Do you know anybody in Seattle? A friend, a cousin, someone you knew in High School? Anyone who you think is a reasonably nice person. I think that one tactic is to start with one (or two...) people who you have some respect for, and who are tempermentally like you. The best contact (I think) is a friend who is a therapist themselves, or works with therapists.
But when I moved here I didn't know anyone. The first doctor I needed was a dermatologist. My old dermatologist didn't know anyone in my new area. I found 2 dermatologists in the phone book - not a lot of choice. I chose one at random, and I lucked out. I really liked the guy. He was my kind of doctor - didn't mind explaining stuff, took his time, saw that I was a person underneath my skin. So he became my starting point.
If you meet someone in Seattle who seems like the same kind of person you are (a co-worker, someone at the bank, your landlord or neighbor), they could be your starting point.
Once you find someone who might have the same taste in doctors as you do it gets easier. I have found that doctors tend to refer you to other doctors who have similar styles, and that people who are like you will like similar doctors. So once you find one doctor that you like they should be able to refer you to other doctors that you would like. My dermatologist referred me to a great Family doctor who referred me to a wonderful therapist who sent me to the best pdoc in town.
If you don't want to tell your starting point person that you are in therapy, ask them for a GP recommendation and then ask the GP for a pdoc or therapist.
Interview. First call the therapist and have a list of questions (What kind of therapy? You are looking for cognitive (or cognitive/behavioral?), insurance/cost, emergency coverage, hours. There are sites that give you lists of questions - search for "find therapist" or something like that). They should be willing to talk to you for 5 - 10 minutes on the phone. They might ask what your particular issues are. If the phone interview doesn't sound promising, then look for someone else.
Schedule a session if the phone interview goes well. Some therapists will give you a shorter Getting-To-Know-You session for free - but I didn't find any in my last search. The first session is for you to find out if you like them and think that you can work with them. They will also be determining if they want to work with you and think that they can help you. Try not to be intimidated - you are interviewing them.
I met with 4 therapists for interviews before choosing my current therapist. The first was so bad that 15 minutes into the session I knew he wasn't the one for me - but finishing the session did give me some information about questions to ask other therapists. Only 2 of the 4 were contenders and I chose one of them.
You can tell them up front that you are interviewing more than one therapist, or tell them when they try to schedule the next appointment with them. Just because you talk to them once doesn't mean you have to do therapy with them. My insurance paid for the interviews.
Once you choose someone, keep an open mind. If after 6 sessions you really don't like them, then leave. But be careful about confusing whether you like working with them and them asking you to do hard work. They should be willing to talk about it with you, and even give you a referral to a different therapist who might be more your type.
It's pretty hard. But doing enough homework so you pick a good therapist/pdoc is really worth it.
(If someone can recommend a therapist who works too far away from where you live, you could possibly see that person while you are searching. You would want to do this if, like me, you can't survive without *somebody*. Or your current therapist might be willing to do phone sessions with you.)
Hmmmm. Maybe I obsessed about my therapist search a little.....
Good Luck!!!
poster:fallsfall
thread:260124
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030905/msgs/260173.html