General questions/advice about therapists

Are you feeling heard?

Do you feel that sessions are leaving you feeling uncomfortable?

What sort of therapy is it?

Obviously you have to get on, having a therapist who you don't feel comfortable with or that you have no raport with after 3 or 4 sessions isn't going to work.

The most important thing is that you feel heard, that what you're telling the therapist is listened too, not dismissed, that you are believed. I think pretty much all therapy consists of you talking and the therapist listening, then feeding back to you what they've heard you say and exploring a bit deeper, or making a suggestion or two. Sometimes therapy will make you feel uncomfortable and you leave feeling stirred up, this is natural and will depend on what you're talking about, the more traumatic the event you're talking about, then the more you will feel stirred up. Often therapy can make you feel worse before you feel better, but you should feel safe with your therapist, safe to tell them uncomfortable things.

There are many different types of psychotherapy and it's worth researching some of these and seeing if some appeal to you more than others, some people feel happier in a group others shy away in horror. Some are less verbal, such as Art Therapy, which uses drawing as a way for you to explain visually what you struggle with verbally, you don't need to be "an artist" to go to art therapy and you will not be judged on the quality of your drawing, it's a way into your head. When I did my art therapy training we were shown a picture of a sunny day and a garden full of flowers and a normal looking house, and asked what we thought, most people said what a lovely happy picture it was, it was only when pointed out by the tutor, that most people noticed the sad face sobbing at one of the upstairs windows that we realised it was a picture of a hay fever suffer's nightmare.

Are you feeling heard?

Do you feel that sessions are leaving you feeling uncomfortable?

What sort of therapy is it?

Obviously you have to get on, having a therapist who you don't feel comfortable with or that you have no raport with after 3 or 4 sessions isn't going to work.

The most important thing is that you feel heard, that what you're telling the therapist is listened too, not dismissed, that you are believed. I think pretty much all therapy consists of you talking and the therapist listening, then feeding back to you what they've heard you say and exploring a bit deeper, or making a suggestion or two. Sometimes therapy will make you feel uncomfortable and you leave feeling stirred up, this is natural and will depend on what you're talking about, the more traumatic the event you're talking about, then the more you will feel stirred up. Often therapy can make you feel worse before you feel better, but you should feel safe with your therapist, safe to tell them uncomfortable things.

There are many different types of psychotherapy and it's worth researching some of these and seeing if some appeal to you more than others, some people feel happier in a group others shy away in horror. Some are less verbal, such as Art Therapy, which uses drawing as a way for you to explain visually what you struggle with verbally, you don't need to be "an artist" to go to art therapy and you will not be judged on the quality of your drawing, it's a way into your head. When I did my art therapy training we were shown a picture of a sunny day and a garden full of flowers and a normal looking house, and asked what we thought, most people said what a lovely happy picture it was, it was only when pointed out by the tutor, that most people noticed the sad face sobbing at one of the upstairs windows that we realised it was a picture of a hay fever suffer's nightmare.