Third week of therapy. My psychiatrist has let me talk for 2 hours so far and not offered anything much in the way of a response to anything I say. I feel like I am spending a lot of effort and money to talk to a blank wall. Is this normal or should I be seeking a different therapist? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Dec 12, 2009 - 29 answers

I'm a male in my early twenties who has washed out of college and is looking for a mental health professional of some sort in Northern Virginia. Issues I feel are likely to come up are my (long-ago diagnosed) attention deficit disorder, depression, and some form of OCD - I have a deep and (likely irrational) fear of psychosis and other impairments of cognition. I am deeply wary of psychiatric drugs, and want to work with someone who shares my attitude toward them, but would recommend them as a last resort. So what I'm after is some sort of talk therapy, preferably with a medical doctor (as oppose to "just" a PhD). [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Aug 13, 2009 - 11 answers

Where can a 21 year old girl go in the Dallas area for free or low cost psychiatric help besides JPS and Parkland? [more inside]
posted by holdkris99 on Apr 29, 2008 - 4 answers

My siblings and I are trying to find kinds of therapy for my dad, in dealing with the death of our mom/his spouse 17 years ago. He's still very very emotional about any discussion of her, and has never talked to a "professional" about it. Ideas suggestions for types of therapy, and recommendations in the Washington DC area. [more inside]
posted by jalebi on Mar 29, 2008 - 7 answers

Recommendations for treatment of social anxiety disorder in or around Boston or Cambridge, MA? [more inside]
posted by lucky mollusk on Mar 18, 2008 - 1 answer

Freud and his followers have been thoroughly discredited for quite a while now. Our scientific understanding of the brain has grown by leaps and bounds since their heyday, and we now have treatment methods that are cheaper, quicker, and more effective than anything psychoanalysis had to offer. So why is psychoanalysis still practiced? [more inside]
posted by decoherence on Feb 3, 2008 - 41 answers

Do I need a psychiatrist as well as a psychologist? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jul 12, 2007 - 11 answers

I want to learn about psychoanalysis/psychotherapy/etc. -- what are the best books? [more inside]
posted by shivohum on Jul 18, 2006 - 12 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

I need a therapist. I recently moved to the Boston area, I don't really know anybody, and Psychology Today isn't doing it for me. I know that I'm clinically depressed (runs in the family, and relatives who are docs say so), and it's gotten worse of late. It's ruining my job, my life, and my sleep. Where do I find a top notch psychiatrist/psychologist?
posted by anonymous on Dec 12, 2004 - 8 answers

electro convulsive therapy (ECT): My brother has been diagonized with major depression. He no longer responds to the standard anti-depressants. Doctors are considering ECT for him. Have any meta filter members had experience with ECT? How effective? Side effects? Relapses?
posted by TimeFactor on Jun 13, 2004 - 13 answers

A relatively shy MeFi member (and you know I'd admit it if it was me) is looking for advice on finding a good psychatrist in the Los Angeles area. More interested in talking therapy than medication, though not ruling anything out.

Private responses can be sent to SHRINKatWENDELLWITdotCOM.
posted by wendell on Feb 18, 2004 - 8 answers