Posted by fallsfall on February 20, 2004, at 6:57:33
In reply to therapists's reactions to termination, posted by Medusa on February 20, 2004, at 4:40:40
I interviewed 5 therapists.
One was so awful that I barely stayed the whole session. Then he wanted to make another appointment - he just assumed that I would stay. I told him that I needed to talk to some more people. I was insulted that he couldn't see that he couldn't give me what I was looking for - it proved that he hadn't listened to me (I was looking for something - anything - else other than CBT. He said on the phone that he could help me with that, but in person all he did was CBT.) I left him a voice mail saying that I was going with someone else.
2 of the therapists and I both knew fairly early in the session that the fit wasn't right. I liked both of them, and thought they were very competent, but it was just very obvious that they weren't going to be able to give me what I was looking for. Someplace in the middle of the sessions, we verbalized that and then used the rest of the session to get as much insight and advice from them as we could. In both cases, the session was worthwhile, and we parted on really nice terms.
The 4th therapist used to be my group therapist many years ago. I had seen her at the beginning of my crisis for a session, and she had been wonderful and very helpful. I called her when I started my search and she said that she would like to me on my list of candidates. I left her an email when I chose the other therapist, thanking her for her help. I think that she is really mature and I'm really hoping that she took it OK, because I do want to have the option of seeing her again if I need a consultation.
And the 5th therapist won! (well, I hope he sees it that way...)
So I guess I did the harder ones with voice mail, and they didn't respond (and I didn't expect them to).
poster:fallsfall
thread:315969
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040218/msgs/315981.html