What is the procedure for making an appointment with a psychotherapist and what you should pay attention to when choosing a psychotherapist.

There are so many different and seemingly similar names of specialists in the field of psychology: psychiatrist, psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, psychologist, how do you know who to make an appointment with?

The difference between a psychologist and a psychotherapist and psychiatrist

Psychologistis a person with basic psychological education who understands the mechanism of how the psyche works, but he may not have counseling skills.

In order for a psychologist to be able to provide consultations, he needs to undergo special additional training. Such a consultant psychologist works with healthy people who are faced with a difficult situation.

A psychologist helps you change behavior, make decisions, express emotions and feel confident. But at the same time, the psychologist does not have the right to prescribe medications and work with mental disorders.

A psychotherapist who, in addition to psychological training, has received long-term training in one of the methods of psychotherapy can work with disorders of mild and moderate severity, but if he is not a doctor, he also cannot prescribe pills and make a diagnosis.< /p>

Psychoanalyst is a psychotherapist who works in the oldest direction of psychotherapy, which was invented by Sigmund Freud - psychoanalysis.  There are a huge variety of types of psychotherapy and there are more modern and effective methods that allow you to achieve results faster than the old approach, which required many years of therapy.

Psychiatrist works with severe mental disorders. This is necessarily a doctor who can prescribe pills and make a diagnosis. Every tenth person faces serious mental problems. This does not make a person a “crazy person,” but it does mean that he cannot cope without medication support.

Therefore, there is no shame in contacting a psychiatrist. Sometimes both psychotherapists and psychologists refer a psychiatrist for consultation in order to correctly build a strategy for working with the client.

How to choose

psychotherapist

There is no psychotherapist who works equally well with all requests. This is because different methods work better for different tasks. Just as there are no universal doctors, and an ophthalmologist will not be able to properly treat a fracture. 

Of course, it is important that the specialist has specialized psychological and psychotherapeutic education. I have this information in the “about me” tab where all my diplomas and certificates are.

In order to understand which method is right for you, you need to try it. Unfortunately, it is impossible to say in advance which method is ideal for you. Therefore, it is necessary to select a psychotherapist; for this there are trial sessions and an initial conversation.

In addition to the method itself, the personality of the specialist himself, as well as how comfortable you are working with him, also plays a key role in the success of psychotherapy.

Therefore, if a psychotherapist helped your boyfriend or girlfriend, it is not necessary that he will do the same for you.

Make an appointment with a psychotherapist: 3 steps

• Send a message “need advice” in one of the messengers in the “contacts” tab or leave a request with your contacts, and I will contact you.
• We will agree on a time for a free initial conversation (15 minutes) where you can understand how much I can help you and whether we are right for each other
• If you decide to work, you make an advance payment for the first session, and we plan the time for it.

Online appointment with a psychotherapist

I accept online in any of the instant messengers that allow you to communicate by voice and video. (Skype, Zoom, Viber, WhatsApp, Telegram)

There are advantages and disadvantages to this format of therapy. The advantage is mobility and accessibility, saving time and money. Disadvantages - in acute conditions, when it is necessary to monitor non-verbal feedback, video communication does not convey the picture as fully as face-to-face communication.  But for most cases this is not an obstacle. Another limitation is the inability to use body-oriented techniques that involve direct contact (I must say that I don’t use them at all in face-to-face work).

Responsibility of the psychotherapist

They often think that only the therapist is responsible for the results of psychotherapy. This is fundamentally wrong.  Regardless of how professionally the specialist has done his work, if the client is not motivated and does not put effort into working on his problem, nothing will happen. The psychotherapist only accompanies the client along this path, supports and helps him, and gives him tools to overcome obstacles. And if the client doesn’t go anywhere, then he won’t be able to reach the goal.

In this sense, it is the price of therapy that is an important factor in the client’s motivation and his serious attitude. It is difficult for a person to take a careless approach to work for which he paid serious money.

Since you improve the quality of your life with the help of psychotherapy, paying for the services of a psychotherapist is an investment in yourself, like any education. When a person gets rid of problems that hold back and take away energy, he often begins to earn more, as if he had undergone special training for which they pay more.

How many psychotherapy sessions will be needed?

There are no fixed courses as when taking antibiotics. A lot depends on your request, your personality and motivation.

On average, my method of positive psychotherapy requires 10 meetings per request. This is because the method is short-term and allows you to integrate techniques from other approaches - accordingly increasing the arsenal of tools for the job. But you may have to spend significantly more time. Some clients go to maintenance psychotherapy every few months for several years if they decide that it is important for them to share their achievements and difficulties even after the initial issue has been resolved.

 I'm afraid of a psychotherapist - what to do?

It's normal to be afraid of meeting a stranger. Psychotherapy is a mysterious area and often overly mystified due to the abundance of TV series and films that briefly show the work of a psychotherapist (mainly psychoanalysts).

There is an opinion that a person seeking psychological help is simply a loser who is not capable of solving his problems on his own. Why this opinion does not arise about people visiting the dentist is not clear. Although the psyche is the same part of a person as teeth or legs, or internal organs.

The invisible psyche seems more illusory than something that can be touched, although it brings tears and suffering no less, and sometimes more than toothache.

Therefore, there is no need to treat your teeth yourself, and even more so, you do not need to self-medicate your psyche. Seeing a psychotherapist is the same kind of help as any other health specialist.

What to do if the psychotherapist is not suitable?

It’s completely normal that an excellent, experienced specialist is not right for you. This may be due to difficulties in building a therapeutic relationship (after all, not all people become friends), sometimes there are negative associations, or the working methodology simply is not suitable. It is for this reason that I always offer a free initial consultation and the first consultation with a significant discount, so that you have more time to understand whether you want to work with me without spending a lot of money.

Sometimes it happens that negative feelings are the result of “resistance.” This is fine. The brain is very reluctant to adapt to new behavior and therefore tries to get rid of the one who changes life through rejection and mistrust.

Therefore, I recommend focusing not on the feelings themselves, but on the dynamics of change. If you have already completed several sessions and there is a feeling that you are not understood and nothing is changing, then this is a sure sign that the psychotherapist needs to be changed. The dynamics of change may not be fast, but they must happen.

I will be happy to help you solve your psychological problems online or in person in Kyiv. To sign up for a consultation, click the button below.

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