My mental state is a complete wreck. I need a decent therapist, but until now I have found only complete idiots. My fault, I was forced to look for the cheapest and you get what you pay for.
Now I got some money. Does anyone know how much should I pay for a decent therapist? Somebody that actually listens and answers your questions with decent advice, instead of sitting there like a store mannequin? In my experience, therapist that work for 45 pounds at hour are completely useless.
>Somebody that actually listens and answers your questions with decent advice, instead of sitting there like a store mannequin?
I think the kind of therapist you are looking for might be a pure an invention by hollywood to offer character insight. Most therapists just get you to set some structure in your life and give you a print out of common cognitive distortions.
Well, when I asked for feedback from my therapist he just sat there, looking at me with his mouth opened and a blank stare. Maybe he suffered from some form of learning disability. He either ignored my questions or answered with canned answers straight from some motivational poster. I think that he did not listen to a single word of what I said. A store mannequin would do exactly the same service. Well, you get what you pay for. Mental health is an expensive luxury, not a right.
I haven't had the time to look this up, but my impression is that there are big distinctions between 'counsellor', 'therapist', 'psychotherapist', 'psychiatrist', and so on, but I've not seen these terms disambiguated in the UK context.
I also have some intuition that the more you pay, the more therapy moves into the "talk about your specific problems and experiences" type, rather than the "here's some broad frameworks to help you sort out your life" type.
Additionally, each therapist will also have their particular approach that they've been trained in. As I understand it, the former folks tend to be deep into the old psychological schools and will apply Freudian or Jungian theory in their work, while the latter will tend toward the current model if CBT as it's the one with the biggest evidence base and is designed to be widely applicable, hence it gets trotted out (with varying degrees of competence) for everyone.
Maybe some lad or one of our resident niche-knowledge posters here on .gs can enlighten us a bit more about this.
"Counsellor", "therapist" and "psychotherapist" are not legally regulated terms - anyone can slap it on their business card and have a go. If you're thinking about seeing someone who uses one of these titles, you really need to check out what qualifications they have. At a bare minimum, go with someone who is registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
"Psychiatrist" means a medical doctor who has specialised in mental health; you'd typically see a psychiatrist for diagnosis or medical treatment, but they rarely provide psychotherapy themselves. It can be useful to see a psychiatrist if you think that you might have a complex or serious problem, but expect to pay about £300 for a consultation.
The gold standard of qualification for a therapist is someone using the title "clinical psychologist", "practitioner psychologist" or the post-nominal letters "D.Clin.Psych". They aren't medical doctors, but they are required to have a similar level of postgraduate training and practical experience.
I can do a post on the various schools of psychotherapy, but it's a massive topic. The most important thing is to find someone you get on with - in the jargon, we'd say "the single biggest predictor of the efficacy of psychotherapy is the strength of the therapeutic alliance". Ring around and have a chat with a few different therapists before booking a session. Don't bother if you think they sound like a dickhead. Don't be afraid to drop out after one session if you think you're not going to be able to work effectively with someone. If you want practical solutions, look for someone who specifically specialises in cognitive behavioural therapy, rather than someone who lists it along with fifteen other kinds of therapy you've never heard of. This is purely my personal opinion, but the term "integrative" usually means "vague and wishy-washy".
Until now I assumed that I only found useless dickheads because I was going for cheap, but I am getting the unpleasant idea that psychotherapy is generally a crock of bullshit. I will try to check if I can get something better by paying more, but if I think I will find bullshit again. Any idea on the minimum price to get a therapist with a working brain and human IQ? That's the only parameter I can rely on, I do not possess the skills required to check the value of the shrink's qualifications.
By the way, the dumbass that proposed EFT to me is fully BACP qualified. That qualification is worth very little to me.
>but I am getting the unpleasant idea that psychotherapy is generally a crock of bullshit.
It's hard to say you're entirely wrong there to be honest lad. It's probably more that it's easy to get away with being a borderline fraudulent con artist masquerading as a professional in this particular field compared to most, though, rather than the whole thing being a lie.
I'm sure you'll find one you get on with eventually, it'll just be a long haul and you might end up paying more than you hoped.
