About me
I’ve written about all or most of the symptoms of stress here. Generally, if you are suffering from stress-induced symptoms you know it.
In view of the Kavanaugh hearings, anyone experiencing and needing prompt intervention should call the National Sexual Abuse Hotline. Call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline when appropriate. In a life and death situation of course call 911.
Unless you have a therapist who was helpful in the past who you want to go back to, I suggest that your first line for seeking treatment is your family doctor to rule out physical causes and to talk about whether psychotherapy or counseling (I use the terms interchangeably) may be helpful.
Your physician probably has recommendations for referrals. Another way to get referrals is from friends who have had good experiences with therapists. If they are in therapy and don’t want to refer you to their therapist, they can ask their therapist for names of other good therapists.
Before the Internet, it was easier1 and yet harder to find a therapist who is a good fit for you. When there was a personal connection between you and someone referring you it was easier. Now there are probably hundreds of therapists in your area who you can find online.
You should be aware that online advertising for therapists is not well regulated. Psychology Today offers a listing service here.
Here’s another web service, Find A Therapist, which will help you locate a therapist in your area.
The image promises tranquility rather than jumping for joy with a red umbrella.
Each therapist presents a bio and writes about the kind of therapy they offer. These will give you a general idea as to what their specialty is. I think many people gloss over these and pick therapists based on their photo.
My only advice is not to pay particular attention to whether the therapists are clinical or counseling psychologists or clinical social workers.2 I advise looking carefully into the training and credentials of all potential therapists, but especially other professionals offering psychotherapy and counseling because licensing standards vary from state to state.
There are currently various clinical master’s degree programs besides those in psychology and social work. They may be taught in university departments of education or departments of behavioral science. Many good therapists are licensed marriage and famiiy counselors. You may find a suitable therapist with one of these newer degrees and the commensurate state licensure. My caveat is to look for programs which run at least two years and have two clinical internships and to avoid those who completed online degree programs. For more information click here.
Studies have shown that there is no difference in outcomes and client satisfaction between the clinical social work and clinical psychologist professions. Aside from calling your therapist “doctor” the only difference is how much you have to pay because clinical psychologists generally charge more than clinical social workers.
If it’s important to you, almost all the clinical social workers I’ve known go by their first names, and some clinical psychologists do too. (Every Ph.D. psychologist who ever worked for me when I was the director of a mental health center went by their first name.)
If you start therapy and feel your therapist isn’t listening empathetically to you drop out and find another therapist. If after two to four sessions you don’t feel you are getting anywhere, bring this up with your therapist. It may be the time to find another therapist.
A cost-efficient and often highly effective method of treatment for people who have similar stressors is group therapy. This seems to be out-of-favor now in part because so many therapists are in individual practice. A mental health center or group practice may be the best place to seek out a therapy group since they have a larger client base to draw from to put together groups.
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Footnotes
1. When I worked in community mental health in Michigan and then a group practice in Massachusetts I knew dozens of therapists personally or by reputation who I could refer to.
2. Not all psychologists and social workers are clinicians.
Addendum: On the poll, a question I didn’t think of: If you were already in therapy for other issues, have you been sidetracked from working on these because of stress related to Trump? Please comment. Therapists have been reporting this.