So you have decided to visit a psychologist. Whom do you choose?
To begin with, most of us psychologists are very devoted to our approach, so among the information about ourselves we usually say which school we belong to. Why – is a big question. It is experimentally proven that it has little importance to the clients, because the efficiency of different approaches is nearly equal. The basic requirement is for the specialist to be certified in his or her country of residence and preferably to belong to a professional association. The importance of this is that such psychotherapeutic associations see to their member’s personal psychotherapy, supervision and continuous professional development. To you as a client this means that the psychotherapist of choice is up to date about the newest developments in their area, and would seek help from colleagues (usually more experienced ones) if in any doubt about your case.
Experience is also very important. Although psychotherapeutic education is important, I notice ever more that the actual hours of work with real people are more important still. Unfortunately generalized “10 years of practice” in the CV could mean anything from 8 hours a day to 1 client a year. Try to research where, when and with what type of problems did this specialist work.
Recommendations are an ambiguous thing: on the one hand, you know that this specialist has helped someone, on the other, the results of our work are worthy when they endure, and an enthusiastic participant of a recent work-shop can be unaware of how she or he would feel after some months or years.
All in all, the best idea would be to go to a qualified specialist with long and varied experience, one who belongs to a professional association. The main thing is to let yourself spend some time to find the professional about whom you’ll have a good feeling. The same studies that show that most of the approaches are equally effective, state that maybe the most important element of beneficial and useful psychotherapy is the relationship between the therapist and the client. Choose the professional with whom you would be willing to co-create this very special therapeutic relationship, and towards whom you would feel a liking. Sometimes for this to happen you need to see more than one psychologist before making up your mind, but it’s worth the time and effort.
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