How To Choose The Right Psychologist For Your Problem

The time has come. Whatever the reason, you have decided to seek help from a psychologist. But it is not easy to find the right psychologist among them all. How do you know you are making the right choice?

We probably know someone who went to a psychologist without results. Your friend visited the psychologist for a few months and the only thing he got out of it was to ventilate. But what he did not learn was how to deal with discomfort or difficult situations in a better way. Keep reading if you want to learn what distinguishes good psychologists from the bad ones and how to choose the right psychologist!

One of our main problems is the amount of people who provide psychological counseling without a degree in psychology. Therefore, it is important to take a look at their qualifications and degree.

We need to be careful about going through their qualifications given that many new alternative movements are emerging to address emotional issues and anxiety. There are “miraculous” therapies that “heal” without doing anything about the problem itself. Reiki and Bach’s flower therapy are examples of therapies that have not been scientifically proven to be effective.

Even when looking for a therapist who is also a psychologist, you need to be careful. There are many who do not do their job. Many patients go to a psychologist for treatment without the treatment working.

How do disappointed patients describe their sessions? They say that they talked and talked without the psychologist contributing anything to the conversation. The patient may feel relieved after talking, but in the long run they see no changes. The problem persists and was only eased during the conversation.

Logically, the therapist must do something and not just ask questions. A psychologist who does this is not good at his job. A good psychologist does more than ask questions. She explains how mental processes work and gives the patient tools to deal with them.

Many patients ask themselves: how can we know in advance if a psychologist is bad? It’s very simple. We have to ask questions to find the right psychologist.

You do not have to be shy. After all, you will be spending money on these sessions. It is your right to make sure that you get results.

First, they should inform you about their degree and qualifications. Then you should find out what type of psychology they practice. If the psychologist says that he is practicing cognitive behavioral therapy, that is a good sign. The technique of this method has been proven to be effective. It has thus passed a scientific examination.

This is a very important aspect because psychology is broad and hides methods among itself that do not help patients. In fact, some of them create greater psychological problems than the patient had in the beginning.

But be careful. Even a psychologist who practices cognitive behavioral therapy can be a bad therapist. Therefore, it is important to ask about their specific methods and treatments that they use. We have the right to know what the plan and goal of our sessions are.

When we ask the psychologist how he performs his treatment process, there are some answers that show if he can really help us solve our problems. First, therapy should be structured. 

A good psychologist makes an evaluation and then comes up with a treatment plan. In general, the evaluation is done during the first two sessions and based on the results, a goal is to be achieved and an idea of ​​which means to use.

An example of a good therapeutic process is if the psychologist says that they will use behavioral activation with a depressed patient. She should explain to the patient what is happening to him and what techniques should be used to overcome the problems. So you need to know how the psychologist works with you, and why. If the psychologist tells you all this before starting treatment, it is a good sign.

Choosing a suitable psychologist means that we will hire a professional who will give us the tools we need to learn how to handle our problems ourselves. The therapeutic process can take time. However, if the patient follows the plan, the improvement will manifest bit by bit.

This improvement will give us greater freedom and more control. It should reduce the impact of the disorder on our daily lives, with the ultimate goal of achieving full well-being. If this does not happen, you should consider changing psychologist. Also remember that among good psychologists, there are some who are better than others on individual disorders and problems.

The images are used with permission from Juliette Leufke, Kelly Sikkema and Sebastian Mantel.