I have learned that when searching for a therapist, one has to make sure that he or she is a qualified, psychologist, psychiatrist or licensed social worker. If the price quoted seems outrageous, it’s okay to find someone else; that it is perfectly okay to do this. After all, it will not only be for one session, now will it? There is no need for embarrassment. Before purchasing a refrigerator I check prices. I do the same for most items I buy, so … my advice is to either check on the internet or ask a friend to give you some idea of the going rate. Then, it is for you to decide whether to pay or not. In some countries, a person with a serious mental illness gets their therapy covered by the National Health System.
Therapists are paid to listen to a client, but, many patients do not find it easy to get to the point nor keep to the point. I know from personal experience. When upset, this is difficult so I probably rambled on making it is easy for the therapist to lose concentration. Some glanced at their large clocks pretty often, while one or two dozed off. Imagine how I felt? My son was very ill. My husband and I were desperate.
Now I must admit that since losing my son due to paranoid schizophrenia, many people turn to me for help even though I assure them that I am only a mother and a volunteer in the field of mental health and not a therapist. But, they feel the need to talk to somebody who has been there. I understand that too as I had similar feelings in the past. Due to the fact that I listen to so many people, I now realize how very easy it is for a psychiatrist or psychologist to lose concentration because after a while, some of the patients’ case histories sound repetitious. But, there is a huge difference. Bcause I have been in their position, have experienced the same terror, horror and despair, I will never, ever, miss a word that the person opposite me is saying. I will also never doze off no matter how exhausted I might be.
I think that it is inadvisable to become too dependent on a particular therapist. It is the client who should decide when it is time to move on. My son visited a particular psychiatrist for a long time and somewhere along the way, the doctor let slip that he was thinking of buying a new car. He even mentioned the model of his dreams. At that point I knew that it was time for my son to move on. I was driving a dilapidated vehicle and decided not to allow the learned doctor to buy his car at my expense.
Very often, a session of exercising in a gym or a daily run or walk can have the same effect as therapy. Now I am not suggesting that everyone stop therapy sessions, but do try other options as well. If you are a swimmer, go to the pool as swimming is therapeutic. I have also spent many hours on the shore watching and listening to the waves breaking, which is far more pleasant than sitting in a doctor’s clinic.
Another concern some patient’s have is that information given to a therapist may not remain confidential.
A psychiatrist might resort to prescribing medication for his patient in order to shorten the talk sessions but I have to admit that I find too much pill-popping disturbing. It should only be undertaken if nothing else works.
According to the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, researchers at the Metropolitan State University in St. Paul and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire believe that talk therapy can be very effective when treating depression … as effective as the latest generation of antidepressants.