surving abuse - how do I find a good psychotherapist?

[ashamedshepherd]

I am a regular who has namechanged. I have just been reading adelicatequestion thread and cannot believe how emotional it has made me feel. Its made me realise that I have lived my life in fear even though the abuse of my childhood is far behind me. I do feel that I may have post traumatic stress and perhaps its time to talk to someone if I can pluck up the courage.

you can usually access nhs psychotherapy/counselling via your gp or privately via your local institute of psychotherapy

also wanted to say as pollywobble that you can get at NHS counselling services via your GP. However, for more specific therapy for your needs, maybe hunt out rape crisis or similar n your area, it is likely to be free or for any donation you are able to make, and is run by volunteers. There are many options out there but most are not obvious and take a little hunting to get the right one for your needs. You can also get in touch with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy here who have all sorts of contacts from registered counsellors to charities and voluntary organisations. Good luck, take your time and perhaps make a few telephone calls and see what feels right for you.

ashamedshepherd

It has taken me 10 yrs of searching to find the right type of therapy for me. I spent years on and off doing counselling and have realised that it was nice to go and talk to someone but the people I ended up speaking to were fairly inexperienced and may have been good for general counselling but for specific traumas like child abuse, I think need specialists trained in psychology.

Try and find someone who has psychology training (BSC or equiv with lots of experience). I have recently found a good psychiatrist and psychologist who have a plan for my recovery.

I spent years just talking with no real plan from teh counsellors.

Take your time to check out qualifications and experience of working in this area.

Good luck. I am optimistic for the first time in years.

Your GP should ba able to direct you in the right direction. As adelicatequestion said probably better to ask for psychotherapy rather than counselling, if you can get it in your area.

Have a look at this website www.alice-miller.com. Alice Miller is a very well known writer on the subject of childhood trauma and abuse, she herself was abused as a child and so understands the issues and problems in a very real and empathetic way.

She has written many books and reading her work has been instrumental in my own recovery and healing from an abusive childhood. I simply cannot recommend her enough.

Her website also has a list of questions to ask a potential psychotherapist to help establish whether they are going to be able to help you or not.

Good Luck. x

Are you on ad's. They can assist the counselling process hugely. It's not usually a good idea to start counselling until you have dealt with teh depressive symptoms first, as this can make things worse.

thank you all for your responses. I will definitely look into psychotherapy rather than counselling. Do not want to go through Gp as I want to keep that part of my life seperate. I am not on ads - that would require trusting a Dr enough to tell them I had a problem and I am not very good with trust. Dh knows but respects my choice not to discuss it but I do feel now that I should try to find some answers / coping strategies. I will have a look at Alice Walker website. My fear has about therapy has always been over coming the irrational shame I feel and trying to find someone to help who turns out to be like adqs previous counsellors and then it will have all been for nothing. I tried clumsily as a child to get help and no one listened and and I guess that has left me with a permanent sense that people will always fail me.

meant Alice Miller

Hi ashamedshepherd, here's a link to the psychotherapy organisation my therapist belongs to. They run a very reasonably priced service called the Blues Project (click the referral link and then The Blues Project on the left) which is worth looking at if you can commit to 2 x pw. I'm pretty sure they look at Alice Miller's works as part of the training course.attachment based psychotherapy
Good luck!

There are also a number of books you can read, one good one being Toxic Parents by Susan Forward. Good Luck. x