This is a guide for those who want to contact a specialist in the field of psychology, but are faced with uncertainty: what kind of specialist is needed, how to find him and how to make sure that he is not a charlatan? Therefore, we will not explain in detail how psychotherapy is useful, but will immediately move on to the problem of choice.
At Tritfield we have gathered psychotherapists in whose professionalism we are absolutely confident. But if you take our guidance and go find a therapist elsewhere, that's fine with us too. The Treatfield platform has two goals: we not only create high-quality psychotherapeutic services, but also strive to create a culture of mental health in the broadest sense.
Set your goals
You should see a specialist if you have been experiencing emotions that cause you discomfort for a long time. For example, you are angry at someone and you can’t stop thinking about it. You envy, you get jealous, you get bored, you get upset... And it keeps you too busy. Distracts from other things that would bring joy, and not sow melancholy or anger.
You spend hours looking at your ex's pages or scrolling through your Instagram feed. You drink too much at parties on Fridays. Psychotherapy in this case will mean that you are already tired of wasting time on this. And you are ready to move forward.
When you arrive at the reception, you will definitely be greeted by silence. It is important for a psychologist or psychotherapist to know where you start, what problem you came with. To effectively spend your paid time, identify in advance what exactly is bothering you. You can do this item by item in order of priority.
Education
This aspect deserves special attention. How to choose a family psychologist without receiving full information about his specific specialization and education? When making a decision, be sure to ask the specialist about his diplomas and certificates. It is the acquired knowledge and work experience that will allow you to form an initial idea about a psychologist.
What do you need to see first? The list of documents is quite simple.
It includes:
- A diploma of higher education in the specialty “Psychology” (this should be a full-fledged education, not courses).
- Certificates confirming the additional qualifications of a psychologist in the area of interest to you (there is a division into family therapists, children’s therapists, and those who specialize in solving crisis situations).
- Practical work experience. It is worth noting that this criterion is not decisive. Today you can meet both gifted and talented graduates who can help in solving a difficult life situation, and absolutely zero specialists with 20 years of experience.
Avoid those who make promises
Psychologist, psychotherapist and psychiatrist are three types of specialists to whom we turn for help. Their services are paid differently, and their skills are supported by different levels of education. But they have something in common: neither of them will give you a recipe for happiness. And he won’t say that it’s okay to do it this way, but it’s not. Their task is to study your emotions and experiences, try to find the causes of negative experiences and suggest a trajectory of change.
“We program for success”, “We’ll get you married in 10 days”, “We’ll make you happy in a month” - these phrases should be red flags for you. It is better to ignore such consultations.
If you suffer from unrequited love or are unhappy with a sluggish career, a specialist will teach you how to stop doing this. And start feeling normal, and maybe even happy. Without a partner, without a dream job, but on my own.
Who should you go to?
If you need a highly qualified psychologist with extensive work experience, then this is Veronica Stepanova. You already know how to choose a psychologist. Veronica Yuryevna fully meets all the criteria described above. She has a university degree in medical psychology. In addition, she has certificates of completion of additional courses in other educational institutions, one of which is located in America. Today, Veronika Yuryevna works as a clinical psychologist at the Bekhterev Research Institute.
Select specialist type
Psychologist-consultant
Graduate of the Faculty of Psychology. He has no medical education. And he has no right to make diagnoses or prescribe medications. Works with mentally healthy people who find themselves in difficult emotional situations, experiencing crises and dissatisfaction with themselves.
A psychologist will study your character and behavior and help you find a way out of specific conflicts in friendship, family or team. In addition to private practice, such specialists can work as consultants in schools and universities, banks, clinics, the army and, for example, in factories.
Psychotherapist
Doctor with postgraduate training or specialization in psychiatry. In comparison, a consulting psychologist looks more superficially and solves only a specific problem. He works with an emotion or behavior that the client is not happy with in himself. People rather come to a psychotherapist with some suffering, for which in therapy they look for the true cause. This requires deeper and longer work.
If the main tool of a consulting psychologist is skills and techniques, the main tool of a psychotherapist is himself.
This is a person who is ready to listen and not judge. He applies his knowledge of psychology to find the true basis of the patient's worries.
Psychiatrist
A doctor who treats mental disorders in cases where there are organic changes. And where a simple conversation will not help the matter.
For example, depression is most often successfully treated by working with a psychotherapist. But sometimes clinical depression is detected, in which the system of reward and dopamine production is disrupted. Then a person is basically unable to experience joy. It is the psychiatrist who diagnoses this and selects medications. So it is with other mental disorders, in which changes occur at an organic level and treatment requires medications.
Additional criteria
Education, certification as a psychotherapist and other mandatory requirements greatly narrow the “circle of suspects”, helping to filter professionals from not very conscientious individuals. Now further:
Age and gender
One universal rule applies here: if you have a certain belief about “how it should be,” throw it away. Thoughts like “It’s better to go to a woman about children”, “Only a person much older than me is wise and experienced enough to help” are not supported by anything. If you want your therapist to be a 60-year-old man or a 30-year-old woman (or any other combination of gender and age), then that's the way it should be, don't try to rationalize your choice.
What themes does it work with?
Typically, most psychotherapists work with the most common issues (depression, anxiety, relationship problems, divorce, grief and loss). There are therapists who additionally specialize in specific narrow issues (for example, consultations with people with cancer).
A psychotherapist can work in conjunction with a psychiatrist or psychotherapist when it comes to clinical conditions: anorexia, bulimia, clinical depression, post-traumatic stress disorder.
Some therapists specifically emphasize that they do not work with certain topics (for example, for one reason or another they do not work with addictions). Just make sure that your request does not fall into the “I don’t work with...” category. If a particular therapist has one, it is usually stated very explicitly in the text.
Price
There are no universal rules on “how much a consultation should cost”; a price in the range of $15-100 per session in the CIS should not raise suspicions.
Here's some food for thought to help you factor price into your selection:
- A high-quality postgraduate education costs a psychotherapist at least $15,000, after which he continues to improve his skills and reinvest in himself. Therefore, if a therapist works for free or almost free, this should be alarming (with the exception of young specialists who are still studying and looking for their first clients; by the way, a novice specialist does not mean a bad one).
- Some psychotherapists (most often psychoanalysts) have a very flexible pricing policy: they can work for $5 per session with a person from a low-income family, while on the same day working for $120 per hour with a successful businessman. In this case, a specialist can afford to work with someone who is unable to pay the average market price. So the price is formed on the basis of the subjective value of a particular amount for each client.
- For some GPs, the price may vary depending on demand for specific hours: 1pm on a Tuesday will be cheaper than 7pm on a Thursday, for example. This is not a common practice, but when it is, therapists usually report it immediately.
- If a psychotherapist works for less than $15 an hour, the options are:
- he is a charlatan (no comment),
- he has clients who pay much more, everything is fine (as in the example above),
- he has problems with self-esteem (it’s worth thinking about whether you need to see such a specialist),
- he is a beginner who has recently started consulting and is just recruiting clients (by the way, this does not mean that you should not contact him: young specialists with the right education can be extremely effective in their work),
- the psychotherapist lives in a small city, works mainly offline with residents of this city, the price is determined by his surroundings.
City and country
Geography is a parameter that you can pay less and less attention to: the effectiveness of online psychotherapy has been proven by research, so the main thing is to find a psychotherapist who suits you. And if it is located in another city, you can safely work online.
There are a number of areas that are not possible online (body-oriented therapy, for example, which is logical). Additionally, online therapy does not work with psychopathologies (that is, situations where the client has a medical diagnosis from a psychiatrist). Otherwise there are no restrictions.
Self-presentation, website, articles, social networks
If a psychotherapist writes articles, appears on television and advertises himself with talent, this means that the psychotherapist has talent as a writer, speaker and marketer. Unlike some other professions, strong self-presentation and popularity are not a guarantee of qualifications. If you've read a few articles by a psychotherapist you're interested in and liked them, that's great. At a minimum, from the articles you can understand that your values and views on the world are similar. But there is no direct correlation between media popularity and the effectiveness of your future psychotherapy.
Direction or method of psychotherapy
If you don’t want to understand all the methods and schools of psychotherapy, don’t. Seriously: if you find a psychotherapist with a decent level of qualifications and you like him as a person, this is enough to seek advice. At the same time, different directions and methods in some sense correlate with different personality types, needs and views of the world, so it is useful (but not necessary) to think about this.
There are three key currents in modern psychotherapy: psychodynamic, humanistic and cognitive-behavioral.
The psychodynamic direction is psychoanalysis and derivative approaches.
Modern psychoanalysis is markedly different from what it was in Freud's time. To put it very simply, psychoanalysis tries to answer the question “why?” by focusing on the causes of your problems, paying a lot of attention to subconscious stimuli and processes. As a rule, psychoanalytic sessions take place twice a week (and not once a week, as in other approaches), always at the same time.
The humanistic direction includes the Gestalt approach, existential therapy, psychodrama, art therapy and other areas. Unlike psychoanalysis, these methods focus not on the past, but on the present, trying to answer the questions “how?” (how you live now, how you feel right now, how you realize your emotions and needs) and “why?” (existential therapy works with the problem of meaning, including the meaning of life). The humanistic direction concentrates on contact, the experience of contact and the problem of relationships between people.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT, dialectical behavioral therapy, schema therapy, metacognitive therapy) is based on the idea that a person’s feelings and quality of life are determined by his beliefs, thinking and behavior (including automatic thoughts, schema-scripts and “mental habits” "). Cognitive-behavioral directions are more structured and logical. Effective when working with phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorders, addictions, bad habits, anxiety, borderline disorder.
MAIN:
- Typically, online therapy is just as effective as in-person therapy.
- Choose your gender and age according to your feelings, not just from your head.
- Adequate price per session is $25-50 and above, but options are possible.
- The most common areas are psychoanalysis, gestalt and cognitive behavioral therapy.
- It’s useful to read about directions, but you definitely don’t need to get hung up on them.
Look for those who undergo regular supervision
Psychotherapists themselves go to psychotherapists. As we noted above, their working tool is their own consciousness and personality. But from time to time the settings get lost, and then calibration is needed.
There comes a time when a psychotherapist or psychologist goes to his supervisor. This process is called supervision.
They do this for two purposes: to get an additional opinion on cases from their practice and to get advice on personal problems. Supervision is important because it allows the specialist to “reset to zero” and not unconsciously blame his problems on clients.
The frequency of supervision varies from person to person. Different schools of psychotherapy recommend conducting them from once a month to once a year. In Russia, this practice is not enshrined in regulations. Therefore, it is impossible to oblige a psychotherapist to undergo supervision.
Pay attention to the specialist's membership in various organizations. Some of them require their representatives to undergo supervision. The easiest way is to openly ask the specialist you have chosen if he undergoes this procedure. By his reaction you can understand his attitude towards his work. Avoid those who say they don't need supervision.
How to choose a psychologist for a child
The basic criteria of professionalism are still in force. Obviously, they add experience working with children and adolescents. True, if you are looking for a psychologist for a child, ask yourself not only the question “how to find him”, but also the question “why am I looking for him”: does the child really need a psychologist, does the child really need him?
Is it possible to send a child to a psychotherapist without his desire? (Of course, by “send” we mean “persuade and insist,” and not “remove by force.”) In some cases, yes.
Use all your persuasive talents and persuade your child to come to a psychologist if:
- the child has experienced physical or emotional abuse,
- he is bullied at school, on the Internet or in company,
- parents are getting divorced
- the child is worried about the death of a loved one.
In situations from the list above, your task is simply to convince the child to go to a psychotherapist; then the psychotherapist himself will look for an approach to him - and, as a rule, he will find it.
We recommend reading: Advice for parents in crisis
In all other situations, a simple rule applies: if you want your child to go to a psychologist, but the child does not want this, you turn to the psychotherapist yourself and describe the situation as your problem - from your point of view. You may well turn to a child psychologist to talk with him about the child, his behavior and relationships with him.
It’s unpleasant to think about, but when it comes to conflicts with a teenager, the idea of “handing the teenager over to a psychologist so they can fix it for me” will not work. The process of separation is often complex and painful, and the psychotherapist, when working with a teenager, will focus on the feelings of the teenager himself and his emotional needs, and is unlikely to “make him listen to his mother.” In a word, when there is a conflict with a teenager, it is much more useful to first take yourself to a psychotherapist and only then the teenager, if he also wants.
MAIN:
- Be sure to take your child to a psychotherapist if he has been through violence or bullying, or is worried about a divorce or the death of a loved one.
- If you have a conflict with a teenager, first start working with a psychotherapist yourself.
- The selection criteria are the same as for a psychotherapist for individual work, plus experience working with children and adolescents.
Don't be fooled by advertising - explore your options
The most reliable guide remains word of mouth. Pay attention to specialists who are recommended to you by friends and acquaintances.
In addition, having chosen the type of specialist, determine what level of education you would like to see from him. Research which psychology departments are the most reputable in your area.
Browse several search engine pages. Look for those who work in a location convenient to you. Write down the prices of their services and the length of the sessions. This will allow you to set your own spending limits. So as not to worry at the reception that you are overpaying.
Determine for yourself the frequency of appointments
No matter how competent a specialist is, he is interested in you coming to him on an ongoing basis. And they did this as often as possible. However, regularity of sessions does protect the client and makes therapy more effective.
The ideal start is one to two sessions per week.
It all depends on the depth of the problem you came with. And the intensity of the suffering it brings you. After the first month, the frequency of visits may become less frequent.
It is impossible to predict in advance how many techniques will be enough. However, by listening to your feelings, already during the therapy process you will be able to determine the optimal frequency and number of sessions for yourself.
Remember that you always have the right to stop therapy. If you want to pay for a course of sessions right away, make sure at a trial appointment that the specialist is right for you. And you and he are on the same wavelength.
In the United States, where psychotherapy services are the norm of psychological hygiene, the discussion about abuse of trust by doctors is gaining weight. Psychotherapists convince clients that if they quit sessions, they will become unhappy. Is this what In Therapy Forever addresses? Enough Already attention of The New York Times.
According to a 2010 study cited by the newspaper, 42% of people undergoing psychotherapy need from 3 to 10 sessions. Only 1 in 9 people require more than 20 sessions for a course.
For these 11%, therapy becomes a dead end. Research shows that often the longer the therapy, the less likely it is to be effective. But psychotherapists refuse to admit defeat.
The New York Times
Psychotherapy should not be overused. It doesn't have to last forever. It should be perceived as an effective tool to put things in order in your own head and move on. Already a calmer and happier person.
Set aside a budget
Assess your financial capabilities. Debt is unlikely to make you feel comfortable. The financial factor will indirectly determine the frequency of visits for you.
If you feel that your worries go beyond a specific problem and are more like suffering that you would like to leave, a series of sessions will be required. Schedule your therapy expenses for the month in advance. And cut back on others to fit a therapist into your regular budget and avoid surprises at the end of the month.
Try a free consultation
Free consultations are a good way to determine whether you need psychotherapy. If you are a student at a large university, there is probably a psychological service staffed by professors and graduate students of the psychology department. Pay attention to this.
In addition, many cities have municipal psychological services. As a rule, the downside of free consultations is not the quality. And the fact is that you need to make an appointment in advance. In some cases, even a month. But it is a great way to decide whether you want to continue and how much counseling you need.
It may turn out that you will find answers to all the questions that concern you in the first session.
The compromise may be online reception. In the US, such services have already gained popularity. There are only two of them in Russia - Yasno and Sreda. Both projects launched at the end of 2020. The price is comparable to offline methods.
How to choose a psychologist for family therapy
Again, apply all the criteria that you would apply to finding a psychotherapist for individual work: a graduate degree in psychology, certification in one of the areas of psychotherapy, experience in personal therapy, regular supervision, plus your subjective human sympathy.
For long-term work (more than 5-10 sessions) it is also very effective to choose a pair of co-therapists who work with families. The work format, when a couple is advised by two therapists at once, helps maintain balance. Although working with co-therapists tends to be somewhat more expensive, clients can be confident that they will be heard and that the therapist will not take sides. It’s calmer to start therapy in this format.
MAIN:
- For long-term work with a couple, it is also effective to look for an established pair of co-therapists.
We recommend listening to: Psychotherapy for couples. New paradigm
Still have questions?
Let us remind you once again that on the Tritfield platform we have gathered psychotherapists in whose professionalism we are absolutely confident. All of them have specialized education, received psychotherapeutic specializations, and have at least 5 years of consulting experience. All you have to do is make a choice only based on your request and liking. To make it easier to choose, we made video cards for therapists.
We are ready to answer questions about how psychotherapy works, how to select a psychotherapist to suit your request, which of the platform’s psychotherapists may be suitable for you. It's free. Just write to us at .
Choose a therapist
Watch out for the red flags of a bad specialist
The term “red flags” refers to significant situations that require your attention. Something to think about. If you notice something suspicious in communication, mentally put a red flag for yourself. If there are a lot of them, you will understand that the matter is unclean.
A significant reason to refuse a specialist is personal antipathy. It is inappropriate in choosing any other doctor from whom you only need his skills and responsibility. But this is important for successful psychotherapy, notes Finding the Right Psychiatrist and/or Psychotherapist Fredrik Neumann, MD.
The patient does not need to love the surgeon who performs the operation. But this is important in the case of a psychotherapist or psychiatrist. Therapy with a patient who dislikes you is impossible. Whatever the reason.
Fredrik Neumann, Director of the Center for the Treatment of Anxiety and Phobias (USA), Doctor of Medical Sciences
A red flag should be set if, after a short conversation, the therapist persuades you to enter into a long-term contract. Place the second one if he assures that if you quit therapy, you will lose all the results you have gained. And you will fall into the abyss of despair and misfortune. For this you can immediately give a third one.
As the supervisor of the Moscow Gestalt Institute Daria Ryazanova points out in an interview with Help yourself: how to choose a psychotherapist, you should not be alarmed if the therapist asks you to pay only for the last meeting in advance.
The fact is that at some stage the client experiences resistance. This is due to the fact that the patient and the psychotherapist jointly reached some pain points. And when it hurts, you want to quit everything immediately. The money paid is usually a guarantee that this will not happen. And the client will break through the unpleasant stage.
Daria Ryazanova, supervisor of the Moscow Gestalt Institute
It is also normal practice that you cannot get a refund for an appointment if you cancel it in less than 24 hours. This insures both the therapist and you.
“To understand whether a specialist is right for you,” says Ryazanova, “and to distinguish natural resistance from everything else, I would advise relying on the impression from the first two meetings. It should be quite positive. And if by the third or fourth time the euphoria gives way to rejection, then you need to break through it. And if both the first and second times you had serious doubts about the specialist, then it is better to change him immediately.”
What should you pay attention to during the first sessions?
You can understand that you have made a mistake in choosing a psychotherapist by the following alarm bells.
Disrespectful attitude
Listen to how the dialogue is built. Communication during a consultation between a therapist and a client is not a conversation between two friends. A professional psychologist will never evaluate your feelings and actions, impose his opinion, or give advice on what to do. If a therapist wants to share his experience in a similar situation, he should first ask whether you are ready to accept it and listen. The client's time is only for his stories.
The goal of psychotherapy is to bring into the conscious realm the hidden motives that drive you, to provide the opportunity to make your own decisions in the light of new information. The professional does not tell you what to feel or do. A professional psychologist returns his emotions to the client, sharing his feelings and observations of changes in his behavior in response to questions asked. But not from the position of an all-knowing expert.
If the “therapist” behaves disrespectfully, makes fun of your problems and experiences, then you need to stop working with him and look for a real specialist.
Swindling money
You should be wary if a psychologist guarantees a solution to the problem in one session. First, the therapist should at least listen to your complaints and help formulate a request - what you want to get as a result of psychotherapeutic work. And only at the end of the first session are the possibilities for further cooperation discussed and a work plan proposed.
At the same time, paying for missed sessions is quite common practice. The agreement between the psychologist and the client (written or oral) stipulates in advance how many days notice can be given about canceling or rescheduling a session without payment. Sometimes such a measure is introduced in the interests of the client - so that he does not shirk working on himself.
Availability of progress
A person who falls into the hands of a professional begins to feel the results just a few months after the start of therapy: self-esteem increases, fears go away, relationships with others improve. This is the result of 10-20 hours of work with a good psychotherapist, no more. (Duration of one session is approximately 45 minutes). The exception is serious psychological trauma, for example, when violence was committed against a person.
