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Hard to find trauma therapist

5 replies

bctf123 · 03/11/2022 13:07

Does anyone else feel like it's hard to find a mature and experienced therapist?

It feels like many are just in it for the money and are rude, judgemental or in it for the plain shock value
I go for therapy and feel like we spend 20 mins evaluating irrelevant stuff and weaknesses in my personality and then 20 mins moving onto new ground before going over 20 years of trauma in 20 years. How can that be?
The next session starts off the same and we don't seem to move forward?

OP posts:
Eyesopenwideawake · 03/11/2022 15:15

I'm a mature and experienced (hypno)therapist 😊Trauma responds very well - three sessions is normally sufficient.

Nutmeg321 · 03/11/2022 23:01

I know what you mean. I’ve been through about 10 therapists, before I FINALLY found a good one. She’s psychodynamic trained, which is more rigorous than the normal “counsellor” type training. Humanistic therapy didn’t get me anywhere, just felt like lots of hand holding. And CBT was a waste of time!

WinterTulip · 04/11/2022 02:04

First off, I get what you are going through. It's really hard to find a trauma specialist who is affordable, has opening, and is compatible with you and your needs. My tldr advice: Don't be discouraged, keep looking, while you are looking try finding methods to mitigate your symptoms. Like meditation or yoga (the latter can be very iffy depending on your symptoms, so maybe start with like breathing exercises and yoga).

Trauma seems to be the 'it' thing in therapy. It feels like every other therapist says they are capable of healing it and as someone whose been through PTSD specialized treatment, I can tell you many are not qualified. You have to be pro-active in weeding out the ones who aren't qualified to treat you. Often times the therapist don't even know how unqualified they are. Here's some quick tips.

So first thing, consider what kind of trauma you have. While PTSD can be similar, there are important differences in how treatment is approached depending on what caused the trauma. For instance, trauma from war is different than trauma from sexual violence which is different than trauma from childhood sexual abuse (csa). Find out what trauma your potential therapist has experience with.

Next, find out what experience they have. Did they do any time in post-doctorate progarms for Trauma or spent time it PTSD focused programs? What percentage of their current clients have PTSD, how long does a client with PTSD typically see them for, are they receiving any oversight from another therapist or psychiatrist. This will weed out a lot of them, if they are wishy washy here then move on, but you don't need to be rude or dismissive. They may not have the experience to help you but it's possible they know someone with more. Stay polite, but there's nothing rude about asking for your treatment team's experience and qualifications.

After this, I'd say ask what your treatment program will be like. Many will stick to a program like dialectical behavioral therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, or maybe something else like eye movement and desensitization reprocessing therapy. Whatever it is, figure out what sort of treatment you are undergoing, ask questions to see if it's the right fit for you, ask how long the program will be expected to take, and, finally, what sort of homework you will be given and what happens if you fail to do the homework. Many of the more generalized 'talk' oriented therapist will fail this, but having structure to my program was very important for me. I don't want to have a talking buddy, I want to get better and get out, I want to see results. Making sure you have a treatment plan that both you and the therapist are working on actively will act as a measure of progress. Also ask what happens if you keep failing homework. The best trauma therapist I had in the past said they'd drop me if I continued to fail to do homework. Therapy is a two way street. Both the client and the therapist needs to be putting in effort and if you aren't, it's important for your therapist to be strong enough to hold you accountable instead of just pocketing your money. Lots of people with PTSD, not enough trauma specialist. (Likewise you need to be willing to fire a therapist who is too overwhelmed with taking too many client to properly prepare for your sessions, or fails to work with you on a treatment plan).

Gosh I wrote way more than I meant to. Last thing I'll say. Finding a true trauma specialist is really hard. Really Really hard, you may not have one in your area. If you don't then don't fear. You might need to 'train' your therapist to be the right therapist for you. In such cases, other people in my PTSD program who lived more rurally would find a trauma therapy workbook and ask their local therapist if they would help them work through the book together. It's better than nothing.

achangeisafoot · 04/11/2022 03:32

Look for a clinical psychologist or an accredited EMDR therapist (make sure they're accredited- it's easy to train but hard to accredit)

Notanotherwindow · 04/11/2022 17:04

I think it depends on the kind of trauma like a pp said. My trauma is mostly relational and the best therapist I've had is actually not the most highly qualified nor does he have decades of experience.

What he does have is the ability to form a solid and stable relationship with me. It doesn't matter how much I lash out at him or how hard I try to drive him away, he will still be there next week.

Sometimes it's about who you click with. Everyone's experiences are different. He might be shit at dealing with PTSD from war for example but for me with csa and abandonment issues, his style of working works.

Maybe try filtering your search results to get the appropriate training for what you want to work on and then scan photos. Look for someone you can imagine trusting. Meet a few of them. Don't be afraid to shop around.

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