Finding and Choosing a Therapist

Difficulties in finding a practitioner

At the last count, there are now more than 400 different psychotherapeutic approaches, and this number does not even include counsellors, counselling psychologists, psychologists, psychiatrists. The task of finding and choosing a psychological practitioner is clearly a minefield. At the end of the day, a lot comes down to the person as well as their approach or particular technique. If you have had a previous bad experience, it is hard to know how much was due to the therapist’s particular style and way of working, and to what extent counselling or psychotherapy is not for you or cannot help you. Because of the wide variety and contradictory assumptions of the diverse approaches, it is impossible to generalise from one therapeutic experience to the whole rest of the field. There is not one clear principle or belief that can be considered a consensus amongst therapists. Some of the most cherished beliefs of one approach are negated or even considered detrimental by another approach.

It is therefore helpful for you as the customer to inform yourself as widely as possible as to what kind of therapeutic work is available in your local area, whilst taking into consideration the competing claims and often prejudiced accounts which different therapeutic approaches give of each other.

Whilst informing yourself is without doubt helpful, it may not enable you to come to a convincing decision.

The importance of informed, unbiased, neutral advice in choosing

You can, of course, simply consult the Yellow Pages, or the websites of BACP or UKCP which each have a ‘Find a therapist’ section, allowing access to their databases and lists of accredited registrants. However, you may prefer to draw on the opinion of a trusted ‘insider’ – a friend who does understand the various approaches and techniques available, and their respective merits and disadvantages. If you don’t know anybody personally, another option you may want to take up is an assessment and referral session, intended to give you something as close as possible to that neutral and un-biased ‘insider’ perspective.

Which therapeutic approach is ‘right’ for me?

This depends on many factors, including the nature of the problem (its causes and origin, short-term or long-term, the intensity of the feelings involved), what type of person you are (e.g. thinking or feeling), how you deal with problems generally and how deeply you want to address it. Generally speaking, there are three major traditions: cognitive-behavioural, psychodynamic and humanistic, with many sub-divisions and hybrid forms. Cognitive approaches tend to be short-term, structured and potentially more superficial. Psychodynamic approaches tend to be more long-term and in-depth, traditionally favouring insight into unconscious patterns. Humanistic therapies tend to emphasise experiential work and awareness. There are also other perspectives and approaches which are harder to classify, like systemic or existential or hypnotherapy.

A neutral, unbiased description of the various therapeutic approaches can be found on the BACP website: “Explanation of theoretical approaches”. For my own more detailed description of the many therapeutic approaches, see here.

Further information…

There is further information on this website:

• some questions to consider before an initial meeting with a therapist
• some basic information explaining the many therapeutic approaches available
• a detailed description of my own integrative approach and the wide range of therapies this includes and draws from

There is further information on the web:

information on finding and choosing a therapist

• The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
• The UK Council for Psychotherapy
• The UK Directory of Counselling and Psychotherapy

Further information in books:

• Rowan, John (1998) “The Reality Game” – a guide to the humanistic therapies
• Mandy Aftel, Robin Tolmach Lakoff, and R. Aftel (1986) “When Talk Is Not Cheap: Or How to Find the Right Therapist When You Don’t Know Where to Begin” – a bit dated, but worth a read
• if you know any better guides than these, please let me know

Finding and Choosing a Therapist – questions to consider

in preparation for an assessment and referral session

If you are considering taking up counselling or psychotherapy, you may find it useful to ask yourself the following questions. You may want to use these questions to prepare yourself for an assessment and referral session:

• What is the most difficult, painful, frustrating problem or issue that you feel you may need therapy help you address? If there are several, focus on the main three.
• Is there a specific trauma you have experienced that you know has a major negatve influence on you?
• Do you feel it is suffering that brings you to therapy, and if so, how do you experience this (physical, emotional, psychological, mental)?
• Have these difficulties come to a head recently and if so, how?
• What are your inner and outer resources? What are obstructions or exacerbating circumstances
• What are your aspirations ? What is your sense of your potential? Are there unlived aspects of yourself which you feel therapy could help you develop?
• Are you aware of any repetitive aspects to your experience of pain or unlived potential?
• What patterns of feeling, thinking, behaving or relating are you aware of in your life that are relevant?
• I believe that the kind of psychological problems which bring people to therapy involve physical, emotional, mental and maybe what in the widest sense we could call ‘spiritual’ aspects of our being. When you think of what brings you to therapy, are you aware of any links or correspondences between what goes on in your body, in your feelings and in your mind?
• What is the history of these problems in your life story? Are there any earlier experiences which may be relevant to your experience now?
• From within the experiences you are struggling with, …
  • … how do you feel towards others involved?
  • … how do you feel towards yourself?
  • … how do you feel towards the idea of sharing this with a therapist?
• What kind of previous experiences and/or relationships with others have given you hope that there may be a way through?
• Does that give you any sense what kind of therapist you are looking for?

These are the kind of questions which I will consider with you to get a sense whether you might find therapy helpful or worth while.Your responses also give us some idea what kind of therapy and/or therapist might suit you or be required.