How did you know that you wanted to be a therapist? What made you feel that you could do it? What doubts did you have, and how did you deal with them? If you changed your mind, what persuaded you to do so? What would you tell someone if they were considering becoming a therapist? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Oct 18, 2007 - 6 answers

The spouse and I would like to go to counseling together - not because of any problems in our relationship, but because we both have issues with being forthcoming in individual therapy and in initiating a dialogue with the therapist. We figure that if we went together, we could enable each other to open up and at the very least support each other through what is (for us anyway) an unpleasant experience. (And if it makes us a happier couple, that's just a nice side effect.) Does anyone have any experience with this sort of arrangement? Should we pursue someone who specializes in marriage counseling, or someone who specializes in individual therapy? We each have psychiatrists and are on medication for anxiety and depression - this is talk or cognitive therapy we're talking about. Thanks!
posted by anonymous on Sep 28, 2006 - 5 answers

I'm thinking of seeking counseling for a variety of reasons. Being new to the US however, I have questions about how therapy will have an effect on my future health care coverage. Should I pay out-of-pocket or file for coverage? [more inside]
posted by barnone on Nov 7, 2005 - 8 answers

ShrinkFilter: I've been increasingly stressed, self-loathing and distracted for years, and (since my spouse and I are having a baby in a few months) have decided I need to Get Professional Help--mostly to figure out what's wrong with me and deal with it, so I don't pass it on to our kid. But "professional help" is a very big category, and I need to narrow it down. I want to find somebody whose perspective is "let's figure out the big problems and how you can fix them, as efficiently as possible," rather than "there's nothing wrong with you that years of expensive chatting can't prolong." I'd also like to avoid medication. How do I find the right... therapist? counselor? I don't even know what the right word is.
posted by anonymous on Jan 23, 2005 - 26 answers