Posted by babbgal on May 17, 2004, at 19:56:27
In reply to Re: A good therapist fit » Pfinstegg, posted by Dinah on May 16, 2004, at 19:17:50
Hi all:
I am new here, hope I'm not jumping in too late; just wanted to share my story on how I ended up with my really good T.
I had been seeing my psychiatrist -- intensely -- for about six months (bipolar II diagnosis) when he explained he had to refer me out for therapy and move our visits to more of a medication-management deal. I was terrified at the prospect of less-frequent visits to my M.D., but as I psychically un-pried my fingers from his office door, I dialed the number of the Ph.D. that he gave to me. He said, "A lot of people don't like this guy, and don't end up lasting with him because he's tough, but I've never seen anyone get the kind of results he does." So there I went.
The cool thing is, my psychiatrist is in solo practice and so is my therapist, this Ph.D. They share a handful of patients and confer about these shared patients once a week in a teleconference. Even better, my therapist tells me every week what they said about me...and if he doesn't bring it up, I ask! My T.'s guiding principle is "transparency" and I am completely confident that I am being treated by a great tag-team. (BTW, I still see my psychiatrist every two weeks, and for various reasons, I've been seeing him for hour-long visits for the past two months or so, instead of 1/2 hour "med only" visits, so I feel well, well taken care of.)
My T. is very reachable by phone and I often schedule extra sessions when I feel l need to. I started seeing him when I was going through a MAJOR crisis at work (serious mental harrassment by my boss; I ended up filing an ADA claim and hiring an attorney to deal with the situation) and seeing him 2-3 times a week plus talking an hour or more on the phone was not uncommon.
But yeah, he's tough and we WORK. But I trust that I can say anything to him, including when I don't like what he says to me, when I'm angry, upset, scared, pissed off, whatever. Sometimes we have very happy, joking around sessions. Sometimes, like when I saw him this past Saturday (!), I told him something I have never told anyone in my entire life, and it took me about 15 minutes to say the words, and he honored it and said that when I left he would "take copious notes." Tonight when I see him I plan on asking him what those notes said! That's the kind of relationship we have.
Anyway, I know I'm really lucky. I hope this all makes sense, it's my first post here. Thanks for listening.
poster:babbgal
thread:341263
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040512/msgs/347961.html