For context, I (23M) live in the United States. In Ohio. A bit concerned about privacy because of the whole Nazi problem and the fact that I live in an abusive household.
I’ve been working on myself a lot recently and realized that I can’t do this alone anymore (or rely on Internet strangers to talk about my issues). I feel like I finally have the strength to ask for help in the real world. I’ve just never done this before. What’s it like? Is it warm and fuzzy, or cold and analytical? (Does it feel like someone is providing care and comfort, or is it more like an emotionally detached scientist meticulously studying you and scribbling down notes while mumbling “Hmm, I see, I see” while you yap at them?) Do you start to see results right away, or are things slow at first? How much stuff is recorded in a database that other systems can look up?
Generally speaking, it’s a conversation with someone who’s capable of guiding you to better choices and responses. How “warm and cuddly” that is depends on the therapist. Trying different therapists until you find someone youre truly comfortable with is part of it all.
How quickly it “starts to work” is entirely dependent on a) How honest you are, b) how open you are to outside perspectives, and c) how much baggage you’ve got to unpack.
As an adult, you should be fully protected by doctor-patient confidentiality and HIPAA unless youre threatening yourself or others. There are very clear benchmarks for that, but ymmv depending on location. Im not from Ohio so 🤷♂️
If youre on the queer or autistic/adhd spectrums, try to find someone who specializes in that. They’ll know how to help you without putting you at risk.
And ALWAYS avoid free counselors. Theyre usually tied to religious charities and will steer you toward their perspectives, or put you at risk for being queer etc. Just stay away. It’s like any other trade, if theyre worth it, pay them.
Is what you’re describing CBT or…? There are so many kinds of therapy, every time I get to the “which one do I need” stage my anxiety takes over and I just have to shut the whole project down and it sits on the back burner for another set of months.
I had this issue and I got over it by searching for people who specialize in ADHD and didn’t worry about the type of therapy they offered. Most of them are trained in different types of therapy and will help you find what works for you. Don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions. Also remember don’t feel guilty if their type of therapy doesn’t work for you. They can handle you leaving because the relationship isn’t working for you and most good therapists will even recommend colleagues. I put this on the back burner for a long time, but it changed my life more than the meds did once I started.
Idk im not a therapist, sorry =/
Well…if you have anxiety, CBT is supposed to be the primary therapy modality for that lol.
What specific issue are you looking to address? If you figure that out, you can find out which therapy modalities are shown to work best for it.
More caveats to this…other things I’ve found…
I learned these things the hard way.
I think your first point isn’t an issue with a really good therapist, but I’ve had therapists who needed that level of detail from me. With my current one, I told him the symptoms I have that I want to go away and he’s been tackling it from all sides so we can find the issues together (and it’s working well). I do agree with your second point, but many therapists advertise the things they specialize in like anxiety, identity issues, sexual issues, etc. I went based off this and found who I needed without much issue.