Finding the right therapist is hard. I encourage you to trust your gut. If you think a therapist is bad in the first session, 70% of the time you are right.
Do not waste your money and time on more sessions, but move on to other therapists instead or save your money.
That's good advice. I'd say give it two or three sessions though if you aren't sure. Talking to a stranger about your personal issues can be quite uncomfortable, and it can be hard to tell where that discomfort is coming from: whether it's a sign that the therapist is wrong for you or just that the material you need to discuss is difficult.
On a related note, as of two weeks ago I'm now shrinkless again. Sigh.
I saw this last counselor seven times, I think. That was still more than I should have. He seemed even more socially awkward than I am, and after teaching me a couple cbt techniques he didn't do much besides hassle me about going on medication. I am not even close to the criteria for major depression or any other disorder that's normally treated with meds, and yet he seemed to think I was being completely unreasonable about not wanting to immediately go get myself some.
It's just like any other profession; there are a lot of mediocre ones out there.
I wanted to give it some time because first meetings can be so uncomfortable, and if I have a certain gut feeling I want to be satisfied that it isn't just my own discomfort with the situation. So I went a couple times and then it was like, oh maybe another...maybe once more...and it took seven times before I finally left for good.
I don't know. I don't have a whole lot of options right now, since I'm only employed part-time. I'll probably leave this for awhile.
This lady has some serious problems :-D
Ha. I came across a website with a javascript version of ELIZA which apparently got so many complaints the webmaster put a notice on his website that said something like, NOTE: Eliza is dumb. Please stop emailing me telling me she's dumb and telling me to fix it. You can change the code yourself if you think you can do a better job.
Anyway, ELIZA is apparently supposed to imitate a Rogerian therapist, so she's supposed to be all accepting and understanding and mirroring you to suggest empathy, etc. Hence the "parroting" programmed into her.
There's this joke about Rogerian therapy on the internet:
Patient (to Rogerian therapist): I feel really depressed.
Therapist: I see. Yes. You are depressed.
Patient: Nothing is going well.
Therapist: Nothing is going well.
Patient: I feel like killing myself.
Therapist: You're thinking of killing yourself.
Patient: Yes, I'm going to do it NOW.
Therapist: You want to do it now.
Patient: [Jumps out window.]
Therapist: Whoosh. Splat.
)
I won't recount the examples I gave him; you'll just have to take my word for it that he was justifying clearly destructive behavior. I got the impression that he was simply unable to entertain the notion that this polite, pleasant, self-aware young woman coming to him for help was a dangerous individual to get close to.
