How long did you go to therapy before you began feeling better?

How long did you go to therapy before you felt you were making improvements and were getting better?  I'm trying to figure out how long you should keep seeing a therapist before you decide he is not helping you and you need to look for a different one.

That's a tricky question.
I saw a therapist for a couple months, and didn't like her, not sure why. Actually she was excellent.
I just wasn't able to "receive" her input. I went on and on about my parents, was reading things that brought this up. She referred me to a guy that does a special therapy, you hold a thing in each hand, don't remember clearly. He warned me that I might become very upset, and should have someone with me. My husband was in the car, half asleep after a hard day at work, I could see him thru the window, but I was just not into it as I had been with the therapist. Couldn't get myself riled up enough. My fault.
Then, since I told the therapist I wanted CBT, she would say " Do you always attribute xxxxxxx?" to which I became angry and defensive, and felt she didn't understand.
She gave me a big fat workbook about Anxiety and Phobias to look over to try and identify what I was having trouble with. I didn't like that, felt she was telling me to figure it out myself. Wrong again.
No matter what she suggested I didn't take it right. She was excellent, better than I have ever met since.
So, you have to be able to "work" with this person. To take the info with a grain of salt if you don't like it, consider, reconsider, and work thru it. If after a few months nothing is being accompolished, there is a problem with you as a team.
Then it would be better to move on and find someone else. Have you identified any sticky points in yourself that you would like to explore? Any skills you would like to develop, to cope with your illness better?
There is therapy exploring your past, helpful for sure, and can help you understand why you are the way you are. Early experiences shape us. Then therapy for the current problems, say getting along at work, with your kids, your marriage. I never kept a job for long because I would get on my high horse, and just hate it there. Or, everytime I see so and so from my family, I leave feeling wounded. There's another, taking things very personally, not knowing when to walk away, setting yourself up for hurt. A good therapist can point this out, and help you learn to cope with it better. It takes your practice. You want to learn to manage your illness, not have it run you into the ground.
You can ask the therapist on the phone before even going in, what do you specialize in? (as in adolescents, domestic abuse, etc.) What kind of therapy methods are available? (like CBT, DBT, whatever ) You're hiring this person for a long-term relationship, paying money to get help. You have every right to take 15 min. to interview them first.
You can also check the internet on this person, Google, see if anyone has complained about them. Check their qualifications by looking up the name of the practice.
Its not easy, on the one hand you might think, they're right out of school, don't know their way around yet, or good, they are "fresh" with the latest info. Or, you can think hmm, this one's been around for awhile, experienced, been around the block a few times. You can't make generalizations, all you have is the info you have researched. And your gut feeling.
If your gut is telling you you'd like to try someone new, go for it.
You don't have to tell the current therapist of your decision. Just start seeing someone new and then if you have second thoughts, go back to the first one. Some of them want you to schedule an appt with them personally, sticky situation, just say I think I'll hold off on that right now. Bye.

Hope this helps.

THIS IS MY VIEW.

therapy, it is different for each seperate individual. i feel that therapy truely begins when the person is most ready, and yes this does eventuate in and out of therapy. changing therapists, hmmm, something i understand very well. i have done a heap of therapy, with various therapists, and to meet various specific need paramaters.

for my past sexual abuse i saw a sexual abuse counsellor, 12 sessions. for my issues to do with my psychiatric side i saw a consultant psychiatrist for 4 and a half years. strangely it was me that called it off, why, because i had racked his brain and learn't all he had to offer. when i was in crisis accomodation i was seeing a social worker.

at other times whilst hospitalised i seen many psychiatrists and allied workers, seen a professor for almost a year whilst being hospitalised in the private sector. i actually burnt him out, but on my last day we had a cordial laugh, i said in a previous life i was a consultant psychiatrist and he laughed and said i was your patient. them he stuck out his hand and i said, well, thanks for your help, he said, i never will see you again. meaning he was finished with me; then as i walked out the doors to an awaiting car he said jamie, i said what-and his name, he said you have taught me so much about psychiatry.

so after a four year break, last year or so i was seeing a gambling counsellor. when i felt that i required the necessary knowledge i bid this person farewell. weird in 2006 and after a good 5 years my first shrink came into the clinic, he was recommended via the new shrink i was seeing, i was not coping, was extremely angry and manipulative and had lost a family member just the day before. i said to him in the hall-way-you have been sent, but your not my shrink, he said yes, i said when are you retiring, he said i just did. he came to say good-bye, i shook his hand. so how long before you go home (france) he said tomorrow.

shrinks, dr's, psychologists etc are human beings. my first shrink, well he was a professional operatic singer, and alike me a type 1 diabetic.

so i am back in therapy. i found a compassionate person via some feedback from a mate who went to the same agency. he was seeing a shrink, i am seeing a social worker. we have an excellent repore, but i waited until i was ready to jump in. sometimes some time out from therapy to utilise your skills and learning is a good, good thing, and there are times when you require ongoing assistance.

there have been times when therapy was forced, and

@#$% me i loathed it!! did not participate, took on board absolutely zero. finding the right person for the specified situation is crucial. a lot of therapists specialise, and i found this out early. at the beginning i was seeing a shrink and psychologist at the same time. for at the time i was very, very unwell and my shrink was treating me and stabilising my situation, whilst the psychologist was working with me on specific neurosis.

i feel we continually to learn from each arena of specific theraputic assistance. in the end we need to have a go ourselves in trying stuff out, and do so both in and out of therapy. it is a need based situation for me. if i am struggling and have used all the relevant tools and are not coping, as i am now, then thats when i seek therapy. this is what i am doing. as we grow, mature, age and learn we realise that we ourselves are our best therapists.

other factors come into play also, 1 for me is a change in illness and a new dx. others a new job, loss of job, a death, new job opportunity overseas, study, marriage, divorce, etc. etc. sorry it was long. thx 4 sharing. hoping this has relevance. jamie.

up n down. you? take care, jamie.