by Sergio Silva, M.D.

Created on: August 20, 2009

How to Pick A Good Therapist

More people than ever are seeking professional counseling services in one form or another. Thankfully, the stigma of seeing a mental health professional is waning and people are becoming better educated regarding the various options available to them. Needless to say, psychotherapy can be extremely helpful, and it is almost always a good idea if a person is at all interested in it, assuming there are no major contraindications (see Part II) and the client-therapist relationship is a good fit. Unfortunately, as many people have experienced, a trial of psychotherapy can also result in disappointment and/or greater confusion. As is the case with medical malpractice between doctors and patients, it is a fact of life that some therapeutic alliances between professional counselors and their clients go terribly awry. In some cases this is because of the relative inexperience of an otherwise well-intentioned therapist; in other instances it may be due to a therapist's gross negligence, or his or her own psychological morbidity; in still other cases, it's simply due to a poor match: some client-therapist alliances just aren't meant to be.

Because the start of a successful psychotherapeutic endeavor begins with the therapeutic relationship itself, selecting the right therapist is of paramount importance. It is also one of the most uncertain tasks, especially when practical considerations such as geographical location, availability and insurance requirements come into play. The topic of selecting the right therapist could fill a book. This article will briefly touch upon a few things to consider when making that selection. Part II, to be published separately, will discuss how to embark upon meaningful, successful psychotherapy by setting goals, avoiding pitfalls and engaging your therapist.

Because there is no practical way of comprehensively screening a potential therapist before therapy actually begins (it is often not until therapy is well under way that both the client and the counselor begin to develop a true sense for the other person), you will probably have to settle for an empiric, trial-and-error process, but the following guidelines should improve your chances of success without encouraging you to "therapist-shop." We'll see that, while it is reasonable to "interview" a potential new therapist on the first visit before committing to weekly sessions, you will want to resist the urge to shop around for someone

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