Credentials Are Overrated

Many people avoid starting therapy or test driving lots of therapists because they’re understandably hesitant to dredge up all the painful details of their past over and over again to complete strangers. But you don’t have to get into all of that right away. Some context about your background is ...

Keep in mind that how they answer your interview questions is at least as important as what they say. Keep a close eye out for defensiveness… If you ask your therapist a question about themselves and they get defensive, that’s...

An initial consultation is a chance for them to learn about you and your goals and make sure it’s a good fit for them. But this is also your opportunity to interview your therapist and figure out if they’re a good fit for you. So be bold and ask lots of questions: How would you describe your ...

Like it or not, therapy is a marketplace. This means if a therapist is in demand enough to avoid all the hassles of working with insurance companies, they probably will. And while demand for a therapist isn’t a guarantee of talent or quality, it’s actually a pretty good signal.

Of course, ...

There’s no easy way to find a therapist who will be a good match for you. Like dating, it’s largely a numbers game. You need reps experiencing different people and styles to find what works for you. So don’t be afraid to talk with someone a handful of times and move on if it’s not a good fit.

There is one majore common factor seen over and over again in particularly good therapists: They’re able (and willing) to provide both comfort and challenge. When you’re with them you feel supported, understood, and genuinely cared about. And at the same time, th...

You are responsible for doing most of the work in therapy. A great therapist helps you do the work—but they can’t do it for you. Many people make bad decisions choosing therapists because, deep down, they’re looking for a magician who will offer some secret insight or hand them a special tool tha...

It’s common to come across therapists who describe themselves as eclectic, meaning they use a variety of tools and approaches from different schools of thought and modalities. This isn’t bad necessarily. And having a therapist who’s open-minded and not dogmatically tied to a particular t...

This is especially true of the initial “pre-work” of researching, interviewing, and test-driving different therapists. Remember, there’s nothing magical about therapy. People who benefit from therapy long-term are usually the ones who are willing to stick with it. Not necessarily with one therapi...

Many people get more benefits out of a good self-help book at the right time than years of psychotherapy. For some, medication seems to work more effectively than therapy.

Others just need a real friend, not...