What do you think therapists should know/change?
I've seen to close to 10 different therapists (due to having to move around as school/work required it), including social workers, psychometrists, psychologists, and a couple psychiatrists, and more often than not, I felt there was something left to be desired. From reading some of the posts here, it seems that many are also not totally happy with therapy. There are many complaints, including the mention of inadequate wait times. So I thought I'd create a thread for ppl here to voice out what you think are things that therapists should know, or should improve upon, to make therapy more effective.
First, I would like to say that not every therapist had these problems.
Preparation before session
One of the things that came up too often was how unprepared the therapist was for our sessions. They would often say to me that they didn't remember what we talked about before, that I would have to refresh their memory, or they would have to take time to reread their notes during the session. It's understandable that they often have many patients to deal with and a refresh would be in order from time to time, but not at the frequency I encountered. It indicated to me that they were not prepared for our session, and that I would have to take most of our session to rehash stories that already took such great effort to get out the first time around. It also indicated that they did not take time to look through my situation to think about possible solutions to my problems, which is the number one reason why I am seeking their "expertise" in the first place.
Lack of experience with SA, Treatments (non-medicinal)
It seemed to me that with many therapists I saw, there was no help in setting clearly defined goals/exercises; I often ended up going to subsequent sessions to just tell them what happened during that week, and for them to just listen and periodically ask me questions like "well, what did you think about that?" or other similar questions by flipping my own words. Of course, the idea of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was often brought up, either by the therapist, or if not, by myself. But with some, it was just a term, or a triangular diagram to draw and describe -- no real-world practical exercises were ever thought up. Sometimes I felt I had more knowledge of CBT than the therapist I was seeing! I suppose I was looking for more proactive solutions/plans in addition to just identifying what causes my anxiety (which I already knew, situation wise).
Infrequent sessions
Another problem that came up once in a while was having to set appointments that were spread apart two weeks or longer. In cases when SA is not that severe, it may be okay, but not for cases otherwise. It may also not be good for maintaining progress over SA; frequent checkups to see that goals are being met and to ensure the person with SA has someone to discuss major anxiety-causing incidents closer to when they have occurred would be more beneficial.
This isn't to discourage ppl from seeing therapists, but just some things I wanted to note from my experiences. What are some things you would like therapists to note?
I've seen to close to 10 different therapists (due to having to move around as school/work required it), including social workers, psychometrists, psychologists, and a couple psychiatrists, and more often than not, I felt there was something left to be desired. From reading some of the posts here, it seems that many are also not totally happy with therapy. There are many complaints, including the mention of inadequate wait times. So I thought I'd create a thread for ppl here to voice out what you think are things that therapists should know, or should improve upon, to make therapy more effective.
First, I would like to say that not every therapist had these problems.
Preparation before session
One of the things that came up too often was how unprepared the therapist was for our sessions. They would often say to me that they didn't remember what we talked about before, that I would have to refresh their memory, or they would have to take time to reread their notes during the session. It's understandable that they often have many patients to deal with and a refresh would be in order from time to time, but not at the frequency I encountered. It indicated to me that they were not prepared for our session, and that I would have to take most of our session to rehash stories that already took such great effort to get out the first time around. It also indicated that they did not take time to look through my situation to think about possible solutions to my problems, which is the number one reason why I am seeking their "expertise" in the first place.
Lack of experience with SA, Treatments (non-medicinal)
It seemed to me that with many therapists I saw, there was no help in setting clearly defined goals/exercises; I often ended up going to subsequent sessions to just tell them what happened during that week, and for them to just listen and periodically ask me questions like "well, what did you think about that?" or other similar questions by flipping my own words. Of course, the idea of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was often brought up, either by the therapist, or if not, by myself. But with some, it was just a term, or a triangular diagram to draw and describe -- no real-world practical exercises were ever thought up. Sometimes I felt I had more knowledge of CBT than the therapist I was seeing! I suppose I was looking for more proactive solutions/plans in addition to just identifying what causes my anxiety (which I already knew, situation wise).
Infrequent sessions
Another problem that came up once in a while was having to set appointments that were spread apart two weeks or longer. In cases when SA is not that severe, it may be okay, but not for cases otherwise. It may also not be good for maintaining progress over SA; frequent checkups to see that goals are being met and to ensure the person with SA has someone to discuss major anxiety-causing incidents closer to when they have occurred would be more beneficial.
This isn't to discourage ppl from seeing therapists, but just some things I wanted to note from my experiences. What are some things you would like therapists to note?