Psychotherapy of the Future!!!

[Diend]

1. Do not have your patients tell their life story during the appt. Have them send a written, digital version of their problem.

I've recently switched to different therapists and constantly having to tell my story all over again is a drag...especially when they tell you they can't help you in any way.

What are some things in the psychologists' procedures that can be changed?

 

[BlueDays]

I too got sick of repeating the whole story with a new therapist/psychologist, so once I wrote it all out (3 pages) and handed it to him when I saw him for the first time.
He read it through, put it down on his desk, turned to me and said "So what's the problem?"
I was like mg: :kickingmyself:

I have never tried to write my story out again.
I guess they need to SEE your body language when you are explaining it to them, to get it.

 

[kihira]

Maybe it's possible to get the notes/history from the previous person sent to the new one, you can do this with doctors? Mine was really good at taking notes and could remember things I had said from a year before. She had very good insight and an encompassed view of what my problems were and could draw threads together from one thing to another. I trying to do that for myself now.

 

[Livemylife]

I don't think I ever sat down in one session and told my life story. I have however given them my background and family history. The first time I did it was brutal and way too emotional for me. With my first counselor, I cried almost the whole time.

The only part I hate is that the counselors respond to the story with "wow"s and "aww"s. I don't know, it makes me uncomfortable. I'm sure they're just trying to be empathetic or something.

Maybe just check ahead with the counselor and see if they mind a typed document of your background.

 

[Livemylife]

I too got sick of repeating the whole story with a new therapist/psychologist, so once I wrote it all out (3 pages) and handed it to him when I saw him for the first time.
He read it through, put it down on his desk, turned to me and said "So what's the problem?"
I was like mg: :kickingmyself:

I have never tried to write my story out again.
I guess they need to SEE your body language when you are explaining it to them, to get it.

Honestly, it's not that crazy he responded like that. Maybe he just wanted to know what YOU think the problem is. But yeah I guess as a counselor, he should have recognized any traumatic events in the story and asked if you want to talk about them.

 

[Earthcircle]

One problem I have is that psychotherapists don't believe me, or at least some of them didn't. I would tell them my life story, and they would act like I was lying. That's kind of paralyzing. It also makes me really hesitate before going back into it.

 

[Kiwong]

Last few people I have seen haven't even asked for a history.

 

[LoyalXenite]

I once tried to bring a list of my symptoms to an initial appointment with a doctor (who was supposed to refer me to a therapist) and they just laughed at it and disregarded it completely and implied I was being a hypochondriac. This is the same doctor that tried to put me in a psych ward, who made me do countless tests and in the end did not refer me to anyone nor provide me with the needed medical certificates for Uni.

 

[Earthcircle]

I have trouble telling my life story, at least sometimes, because therapists don't always believe parts of it. They can get kind of nasty about it too.