Posted by kiddo on January 30, 2002, at 15:01:38
In reply to Choosing a Therapist or Pdoc, posted by mair on January 30, 2002, at 13:19:29
That would be me, I think:
I knew no one in the city I live in, and all I had was me, the yellow pages, my insurance book, and a lot of stress.
I didn't like the thought of browsing the yellow pages, so I called every therapist/psychiatrist in my provider directory. There were 63+ ppl I called, and only 1 called me back. He's also the only one that would agree to a 'test' session. (but I didn't use it, I was satisfied after the phone call)
I made sure to ask what was important to me. (This could be especially helpful since she lives in an area large enough for 'browsing'. I'd also suggest that she make several appointments with both a therapist and psychiatrist if possible, asking the same questions to each....that may help narrow things down a bit. (Mine was 583 questions-45 pages long-I can't believe he didn't ditch me over that alone :-)
Have her make a list of pros & cons between a therp/pdoc. One's more expensive, but if medication is needed, then she'd be seeing two....those kinds of pros and cons.
I have a bunch of information on my website and could go on forever, but I'm really tired right now. I'll be glad to write more if you're interested.
Kiddo
> A friend of mine recently asked about how to choose a therapist. I realized that although I've been in therapy for quite awhile, I've never had to do this. My first therapist was also my psychiatrist. He's the only pdoc I had any knowledge about in my area, and it never occurred to me that I should explore more choices. Therapist #2 was referred by therapist #1 and again I never really looked around.
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> My friend lives in a much bigger pond (Atlanta) with many more choices. She doesn't know whether she needs a doc or therapist - my sense is that she should start with the therapist. I know people have written here before about the process one should go through to choose a therapist and about certain questions that you should ask. I'd love to here from those who have been more discriminating than I have.
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> Robin - if you see this I know that the Undoing Depression web site has some good stuff on this and I will refer my friend to that as well. I just wanted to hear some from those people with no contacts to the mental health community who've had to go through this selection process, more on their own.
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> Mair
poster:kiddo
thread:17539
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020125/msgs/17542.html