Were You Lucky Enough To Have The First Therapist You Saw Be The Right Counselor For You?

[MainerMikeBrown]

If you have mental health issues and have decided to go into therapy, it's one thing to be set up with a psychotherapist. It's another thing to be set up with a therapist who you think is real good at it.

It can take time to find a counselor who you think is the right therapist for you.

When I went into therapy for the first time back in the day, the first therapist whom I was set up with wasn't that good at it, in my opinion. I'm sure some others would disagree with me about this counselor. But she wasn't the right therapist for me.

It took me awhile to find a therapist who was a good fit for me. However, it was worth the search because I found that working with therapists who I felt were good at it really helped me with my issues with bipolar disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

So with that said, I was wondering, who here that's been in individual therapy were lucky enough to have the first therapist you saw be the right therapist for you?

 

[Chitoshi]

Yes, I was, but from what I've heard it can take awhile to find someone.

 

[Movingforward10]

My first attempt. Many years ago, was awful. Had one appointment with her and never went back. She was 10 minutes late to start the session. So we had 40 minutes. I immediately started to get upset as I told her why I was there (she was only the second person I told about what had happened). She told me that it sounded like I was insecure and I didn't have a lot of the session left so better stop talking about the upsetting stuff. Truly awful! But also: I wasn't ready. A bad combo.

This time round: I researched and researched,and am incredibly happy with my second attempt. I picked her for several reasons (gender, sexuality, age, trauma work, location, price, the 'feel' I got from looking at her photo). And she's great. Not perfect, no one is! But a really good fit.

 

[ladee]

Yes. I was very fortunate to have the right fit the first time. She did CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) and it turned out to lay a very solid foundation for future work with a few other T's thru the years.

I had other T's thru the years for different issues and they were good too. It does make a huge difference when we have someone that fits!! Glad you finally found the one that worked best for you.

 

[somerandomguy]

I saw numerous therapists for "depression" before I got clued in that I had PTSD because I went through trauma. Then after I realized I needed trauma therapy, I had at least two others who I didn't work well with and just wasted time with them. I finally found a great trauma therapist by accident after taking a long therapy break - but it took me a year to trust her enough to actually work on trauma.

 

[Survivor3]

No i didnt. It took about 4 therapists to find a male counsellor who was actually on my side.

 

[mumstheword]

I've had a real patchwork of good, and not-so, therapists, perhaps more not really meeting me where I needed them to, that was,sometimes, very, painful. As my need was so great. Especially in the early days of therapy.

It took a long time, years of seeing and trying, before I found an amazing one, but she was provided by the community/state and as such, I was only allowed limited time with her. She was supposed to only allow 2 years, but pushed it to 3 for me, which was lovely.

Now I'm looking for another, and have already been through 4 that didn't work out, well three weren't a good fit and one had to leave her practice, after a short time.

I've tried to get one that sounded good, but she couldn't fit me in, so I'm waiting for another, that sounds good, who, hopefully, starts seeing me at the end of the month.

We shall see.

It can be quite a journey just to get the right, truly helpful, supports and therapy.

I've done group therapy, a few groups, some inpatients and one, weekly for 18 weeks, program, between and during the one on one therapy. And between those, I rely, heavily, on this site as one of my, primary, therapeutic resources.

 

[joeylittle]

Nope. But overall, I've had good luck.

 

[Ronin]

Nope, and I had bad luck or sporadic short catches that are only slowly turning better.

 

[Skywatcher]

My first one said that she couldn’t help me and passed me on to my current therapist, whom I finally trust and am making really good progress with (after three years).

 

[Friday]

I used to move every 6-12 months (and more often, but I wouldn’t bother looking for new doctors if I wasn’t going to be somewhere at least a few months). So I had finding ADHD therapists down to an artform. Which -boilEd down- was starting with a giant list, narrow it down to 3-5, meet them, & choose 1... or start the process over.

So when I decided to find a trauma therapist? I did so in much the same way. Which means there was never a “first”, really.

 

[Missycat]

Not counting the 5 sessions with the telephone therapist ( she was great) - the first face to face therapist .... omg - how bad was she ! I got her details from my insurance company because the telephone therapist had suggested i would benefit from working with someone ‘trauma’ trained and could do emdr. I can laugh about it now but i could not wait to just pay her and get out of there !! i returned to my insurance company and i was then given the details of a Consultant Clinical Pyschologist- trauma trained - specialised in child sexual abuse - emdr etc etc . She worked for the NHS and also had a private clinic. We’ve been working together ever since ... i did get lucky the second time.