Working with a therapist

Seamus

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I decided to start looking for a good therapist about a month ago. I attend a meditation group every week that is lead by a good friend of mine who is a psychologist and she recommended someone to me. I have an initial appointment with her this afternoon.

I've never undergone therapy of any kind before. I probably should have posted about this sooner, but it only just occurred to me to do so this morning. Do any of you have any advice for what to look for?

I'll post back here later about the experience.
 
The first session should, imo, be more of an interview process for the both of you to see if it's a fit. Ask if you can ask questions about their background, what kind of modalities he or she uses, their thoughts on medication and therapy (this can become a big issue for some therapist-client relationships down the road), and other things you might be interested to know.
 
Shane said:
The first session should, imo, be more of an interview process for the both of you to see if it's a fit. Ask if you can ask questions about their background, what kind of modalities he or she uses, their thoughts on medication and therapy (this can become a big issue for some therapist-client relationships down the road), and other things you might be interested to know.

Good advice from Shane, also ask what experience they have of dealing with your 'issue'. You need to be interviewing the therapist so that you can determine whether you can work together in a partnership. (perhaps this post is too late for the first interview?)
 
Thanks for your replies. I'm on my way out the door. I had the same thought about the first visit being basically a "job interview," but didn't know what questions to ask. I'll let you know how it goes.
 
Looking at my last post, it sounds kind of snarky or self important to me now. I asked for advice, which you were kind enough to give me, and then basically said "yeah I already knew that". I had kind of an argument with my folks this morning and I was feeling pretty worked up, but thats no excuse. I apologize for being self important and inconsiderate.

My appointment went pretty well I think, or at least I felt better after I left. The therapist is an older lady. She gave me a list of her professional qualifications and her first stint in college was 1955-59, so she's probably ~75. I'm not sure if thats a good thing or not.

She's trained as a psychotherapist, and she told me that she does alot of somatic work. We tried an exercise while I was there, because I was upset about what happened with my folks. Basically she asked me to close my eyes and try to describe for her what I was feeling in my body, and what emotions I was feeling. Then she asked me to take some deep breaths and breath into the painful areas.

She participated in something called the Ark Training program for Psychotherapists for 10 years. She said it was a 40 day retreat that happened once a year, and participants worked on autobiographical writing and somatic work. I looked it up and found a detailed description of the program here.

http://www.primals.org/articles/allan2.html said:
The Ark is the brainchild of innovative Philadelphia psychotherapist William Smukler, Ph.D. It is a 40-day intensive psychotherapy experience which also serves the purpose of training the participants in the basics of massed time therapy. Smukler is an expert at massed time therapy, a kind of therapy that can last for many hours or days, or even for weeks, as in the case of the 40-day Ark.

She said that she specializes in dealing with trauma and attachment, and early childhood/family issues. She has a background in Jungian techniques like sand play. She spoke briefly about studying "scientific theories on how the mind works" but that was at the end of the session.

As far as what my "issue" is an how she can help me with that, I might need a few more sessions to really tell. Since I haven't been to therapy before I have no point of comparison. I think that my "issue" or issues, have a great deal to do with narcissistic wounding. I have boundary issues, sexuality issues, self esteem/self importance issues. I got the sense that she has experience dealing with these kinds of issues.

The somatic exercise she lead me through was helpful, and it was basically a breathing exercise, a little bit like EE. Maybe this is my self importance talking, but mostly it was helpful to just have someone listen to me talk for an hour without interrupting me. My instinct is to give it a few sessions and see how things go. What do you think?
 
Seamas said:
Looking at my last post, it sounds kind of snarky or self important to me now.

I didn't notice it as such, but if you did sense those things great that you saw it!

Seamas said:
Maybe this is my self importance talking, but mostly it was helpful to just have someone listen to me talk for an hour without interrupting me.

Maybe it's just finding it nice to be able to talk to someone without all the wounding that makes communication so difficult sometimes? Sometimes I imagine what the world could be like, after finding that sincere interactions ARE possible.

Seamas said:
My instinct is to give it a few sessions and see how things go. What do you think?

Sounds like a good plan!
 
Seamas said:
I decided to start looking for a good therapist about a month ago. I attend a meditation group every week that is lead by a good friend of mine who is a psychologist and she recommended someone to me. I have an initial appointment with her this afternoon.

I've never undergone therapy of any kind before. I probably should have posted about this sooner, but it only just occurred to me to do so this morning. Do any of you have any advice for what to look for?

I'll post back here later about the experience.

Hi Seamas, have you seen this thread about finding the right therapist? https://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=13657.0
 
Hi Masamune,

I hadn't seen that thread, thanks for the link. Lots of things to consider.
 
Just a short update:

I've been meeting regularly with this therapist and I am finding it extremely helpful. She is very experienced and focuses on mind-body connections. Sometimes she has me use Jungian "sand play", which is fun and enlightening, and sometimes she just listens to me and asks me questions.

Shane said:
Seamas said:
Maybe this is my self importance talking, but mostly it was helpful to just have someone listen to me talk for an hour without interrupting me.

Maybe it's just finding it nice to be able to talk to someone without all the wounding that makes communication so difficult sometimes? Sometimes I imagine what the world could be like, after finding that sincere interactions ARE possible.

I'm amazed at how effective asking leading questions is, vs. "giving advice" or telling someone what you think they should do. Its almost completely the opposite of how "normal" interactions go in my family.
 
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