Consultation with a psychotherapist is a preventive measure necessary for health. But when communicating with a specialist, you need to understand the rules of the game clearly. We explain how not to be a victim of a layman.
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Find a professional
The most significant danger when looking for a therapist is to end up in the hands of an incompetent professional or a fraudster. The legislation of our country very weakly regulates the scope of psychotherapeutic services.
There are no professional level requirements, an exact code of ethics, a unified certification procedure, and a state register of specialists. To get started, ask a potential therapist for a diploma in education or psychological counseling, and use the recommendations of friends who have received therapy.
Define goals
The ideal alignment is when the patient knows exactly why he came to a psychotherapist, and together with him, solves a specific task. But it is not always possible to formulate it, especially if a person is entangled in his own emotions and thoughts.
A professional therapist should help set goals, if not immediately, then at least sometime after the start of the consultation. If you understand that this did not happen and the meetings are held in the format of discussing everything at once, most likely, you are in front of a layman who does not know the correct approach to therapy or is trying to make money on you.
Don’t hurt yourself
One of the critical aspects of psychotherapy is that working together should not cause psychological trauma. During the consultations, there will be periods of difficult emotional states and experiences. Still, the specialist’s task is to reveal the patient’s pain points and neutralize the negative effect that may arise during psychoanalysis.
Besides, while maintaining impartiality in Communication, the therapist still needs to provide support in those moments when something is complicated for you to experience. If you feel constant depression, a feeling of hopelessness, and an inability to overcome problems, therapy is harmful.
Do not violate the boundaries of Communication
There should be a distance between the patient and the specialist. Still, if you feel that you are not understood or heard and communicate with a person you do not have confidential and comfortable Communication with, continue to search for your therapist.
It should always be remembered that consultations should not turn into friendly gatherings. The specialist must continuously monitor the observance of specific communication regulations not to blur the boundaries in Communication.
It is effortless to get into heart-to-heart conversations when therapy is prolonged. In this case, it is necessary to assess the situation and understand how effectively the consultations are being held and whether the assigned tasks are being solved.
Don’t think that everything will be decided for you
Most people think that a therapist can solve their problems. But the task of a specialist is to help find a solution and not to think for the client how best to do it.
If a specialist, instead of working together, gives instructions and instructions and ready-made answers to questions, it may seem that this is exactly what is needed, but in fact, you are dealing with an incompetent psychotherapist.
A specialist has a guide for any situation: dealing with acute stress conditions, LGBT clients, chronic depression, and many other cases. A competent psychotherapist follows appropriate regulations and ethical principles rather than giving advice.
Don’t be afraid to change your specialist
Establishing contact with a psychologist depends on many objective and subjective factors. You may not agree in temperament, the style and intensity of the consultations may not suit you, or in the process of work, you will realize that you are not working on exactly the areas that you would like to pay attention to.
In any case, don’t be afraid to change your specialist. Some people keep looking for the right therapist for them for weeks or even months. They manage to turn to two, three, or more experts until the moment they manage to find a person with whom they will be comfortable working.
