What's the best sort of therapy?

[lonelypuff]

I'm a fairly normal, easy going and optimistic person. I'm also shyish, lacking in self confidence and sometimes lonely person. I feel at the moment as if I have no real friends except my partner. I was brought up in difficult home circumstances, ran away at 13, lived in a childrens' home then went to university and have been a teacher for many years. In may ways I'm a success because I've beaten the odds to a successful life, but I have a residual lack of confidence around people.
I've always been vaguely interested in having some form of therapy, but not thought to pursue it. Does anyone have experience of therapy? How did it help you and what type of therapist did you choose? I'm in Manchwster btw if anyone has any recommendations. Thanks

Hi lonely

I guess what sort of therapy would be best depends on the specific issues you want to look at. If you want something that focus's on your confidence in the here and now something like cognititve behaviour therapy might be helpful. If you want something that looks more at understanding the past and how it's affecting you and your relationships something like psychodynamic or interpersonal therapies might be better. Depending where abouts you are in Manchester you might be able to access services thro your GP altho there will probably be a longish wait until you can see someone. Are you happy to say which bit of manc your in? If you want to see someone privately you need to make sure they're properly qualified and belong to a professional organisation like the BABCP or BACP.

Feel free to pm me if you think I can give you any more info.

Thanks for your reply NE. I think I want to deal with the problems here and now and not dwell on the past, but having said that, obviously what's happened in the past has shaped what I am to some extent. Does cbt look at your history at all?
I hadn't considered going thru my gp as I'd assumed you'd need quite a concrete reason e.g. depression,some form of trauma etc. There is no particular issue which is seriously hampering my quality of life, I just feel that I need a someone wise to talk to.

Hi lonely
cbt can look at your history but often doesn't. If you're uncomfortable around people because you're critical of your self and spend your time second guessing what everyone else might be thinking/making of you then CBT would probably be helpful. I would have thought with your history accessing services thro your GP would be a possibility.

A decent therapist should do a thorough assessment and if they don't think their approach is the best for you they should tell you! If you're not feeling comfortable or 'in tune' with them after a couple of sessions then it might be that they're not the right therapist or the right approach for you.

hth
NE