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Treatment > Finding a Therapist
How to Find a Therapist
What To Expect From Mental Health Treatment
In addition to having the qualifications to treat your problems, a therapist must also be
someone with whom you are comfortable. If your child is going to receive treatment, it is
important that both you and your child feel comfortable with the therapist. Different people
are comfortable with different styles. It is important to choose a therapist whose style of
working matches your own.
A well-trained, professional therapist will treat you in a respectful, courteous manner.
Here are some of the things you can expect in the course of mental health treatment.
The first few sessions will be used to get to know you and your history, and to evaluate the
problems you are facing.
The therapist will then discuss the evaluation with you and clearly present his or her
opinions on the problems you are facing, what treatments are recommended and how long they are likely to take.
If you decide to pursue the treatment recommended, your therapist will work with you to set goals
for treatment and to plan specific therapies to reach the goals. For some problems, medication
therapy may be recommended in addition to talk therapies. If your therapist is not a psychiatrist,
you will be referred to a psychiatrist for the medication therapy. Your therapist will work
with the psychiatrist to coordinate your treatment. For some problems, such as depression, a
combination of talk therapy and medication therapy is often the most effective treatment.
You may be asked to fill out, review and sign forms that describe the problems you are dealing
with and the treatments planned to deal with them. You may find it helpful to have a copy of
these forms to follow your progress.
Your therapist will discuss guidelines regarding fees, using your health insurance, cancelled
appointments, missed appointments, telephone calls between meetings, confidentiality, vacation
coverage and emergencies.
A therapist must provide quick access to help for you when you have a crisis or a problem with medication.
Role of Therapist’s Orientation in Your Therapy
What happens during the course of therapy depends in part upon your therapist’s views of how
emotional and behavioral problems develop. It is your right, as a consumer of mental health
services, to ask your therapist about his or her theoretical orientation. Three
such orientations are described below. However, there are a number of others. Many therapists use
a combination of these three orientations and others to assist you in identifying and solving problems and
making changes in your life.
Regardless of a therapist’s orientation, it is essential that the therapist be familiar with
the current research in mental health treatment. Your therapist must know which therapy techniques
are most effective in treating the problems you are facing and whether medication should be considered
as a part of treatment.
Therapists with a Psychodynamic orientation understand emotional and behavioral disorders as a function
of critical experiences a person has had early in life. Typically, therapists who view problems from this
perspective will try to help you become aware of how experiences from the past continue to influence, and
at times dictate, your thoughts, emotions and behaviors.
Clinicians who work within a Behavioral orientation focus on the current environment that supports
emotional difficulties and problem behaviors. Treatment is generally a process of altering behavior or the
environment in order to change from unhealthy to desirable patterns of acting, responding and ultimately
feeling.
Clinicians who work within a Cognitive orientation understand emotional and behavioral difficulty as a
function of learning unhealthy patterns of thinking and acting either in childhood or later. Treatment will
help you to identify these patterns, and change them, usually with a combination of cognitive exercises and
behavioral techniques.
The talking therapies used by therapists of all theoretical orientations must include proven
techniques to reduce emotional distress and change thinking and behaviors that cause difficulties.
In addition to theoretical orientation, medical research on how the human brain works is giving us
more and more information on the biological bases of emotional and behavioral difficulties.
This understanding is resulting in new, more effective medications which affect brain chemistry and help to
alter emotions and behaviors.
Therapy Techniques
There are a number of specific therapy techniques used in assisting people with mental health
issues. They include:
- Supportive Psychotherapy, which helps a person to become more aware of his or her strengths
and accomplishments to improve self-confidence and motivation and ability to make needed changes.
- Solution-Focused Therapy, which focuses on very specific difficulties and methods
to deal with them.
- Trauma Treatment Models, which use specialized techniques to address the psychological
problems associated with a severe psychological trauma resulting from situations such as abuse,
rape, a serious accident or other devastating experience.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), which uses patterns of physical
stimulation to reduce more serious anxiety associated with phobias or trauma.
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), which is a system of social and personal skill-building
techniques for people with great difficulties in social relationships.
- Behavioral Therapy and Modification, which focuses on changing particular behaviors or patterns of behaviors.
- Play Therapy for Children. For a brief explanation of this approach, please see
Individual Psychotherapy for Children - Play Therapy.
- Family Systems Model Therapy. For a brief explanation of this approach, please see
Family Treatment.
If a therapist describes an orientation or therapy technique that is unfamiliar to you, be sure to
ask for more information. For additional information about therapy orientations and techniques,
you may also contact our Information and Referral Service at 914-345-5900, extension 240 or e-mail
us at help@mhawestchester.org
Here is other information you may find helpful in finding appropriate mental health treatment.
Getting Started
Who Can Provide Mental Health Treatment
How Much Does Mental Health Treatment Cost, and Does My Health Insurance Cover This Expense?
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