How to choose a psychologist
The decision to invest in therapy is not always the easiest. That’s because this decision is usually taken at times when the person is experiencing an emotional difficulty, is under stress and feeling vulnerable. Adding to this moment the task of finding a therapist can be a new source of anxiety: what kind of therapy to choose, how can you know if that professional is the right therapist for you, should you follow the recommendation of a friend or family member, why is there so much variation in prices and what this could mean? These are all very valid and common issues. The idea of this post is to shed a little bit of light in these points and hopefully maybe make your decision easier.
Within psychology there are many different approaches or lines of therapy (or therapy, as it is also called a treatment for emotional difficulties). During graduation, psychology students learn a little about each of the approaches: psychodynamic, Jungian, cognitive-behavioural, existential, phenomenological, Rogerian, Gestalt, just to name a few . Each professional will, over time, identify themselves with one or sometimes more approaches. It is usually after graduation or at post-graduation when psychologists specialise on the approaches they like most.
It’s hard to tell which approach is more efficient because all of them are effective and they all share one goal: to help the client understand their emotional difficulties and seek tools, alternatives to minimize them. The differences are on the set of tools that each approach uses to achieve this goal.
Specialisations in psychology take time and are gradually built. It is difficult for a psychologist to specialise in too many approaches. This might mean that someone who specialises in cognitive behavioural therapy, for example, may not have in depth knowledge of psychoanalysis, and vice versa. Thus, if you ask a psychologist which approach s/he considers most effective, the tendency is for them to answer that it is the one(s) with which they work, as it is what they know best.
Researches might indicate that a line is more effective than another for a particular problem, but it all depends on what works for each person! This leads me to the 2nd and 3rd questions. To identify whether a therapist is right for you, you will have to pay attention to how you feel with the professional, whether you feel confident and at ease (remembering that it is normal to take a few sessions until the client feels 100% at ease with a therapist), whether you feel welcome and not judged, whether there is empathy between you and the therapist, whether you feel comfortable to ask questions and ask for clarifications (about your issues, about the psychologist, about the type of treatment…). Following the recommendation of friends and family can be rather a good starting point, but sometimes what works well for one person may not work for another. This does not mean that the treatment is bad or the professional is not qualified. Similarly to what happens with medication, what works wonders for one person may be ineffective for another. However, finding out about the qualifications, training and experience of the psychologist can help in this process. In the UK, accreditation by professional regulators and professional bodies, although not mandatory, indicate that the psychologist has reached a high degree of skill and experience. There are many different organs such as the British Psychological Society (BPS), the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (BABCP), the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), among others.
Like any type of service we buy, the range of prices for psychotherapy also varies. Generally the factors that determine fees include the level of qualifications and length of experience of the psychologist, professional accreditation by professional and regulatory bodies, and even the practice location – the central and more convenient areas also mean higher costs for the professional.
To sum up, the best way to find out what works for you is to give it a try: schedule a first consultation, observe how you feel with the psychologist, get information about the kind of approach used and ask questions to clarify your questions.