How do you find a good shrink?

[buriedbeds]

I considered putting this in the Psychology forum, but being that that's under "general gambling" and this isn't really gambling-related (at least mostly it's not... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ), I put it here. Plus, I'd imagine other OOTers could be in the same boat as well.

So I've been under a lot of stress lately and have been thinking about talking to a shrink, but I'm totally lost as to how to find a good one (preferably a good one that takes my insurance...).

How do you go about doing this? My primary care physician has no recommendations, and when I called my insurance company they just gave me a list of like 30 names. I've been googling the names but it seems like all I can find online is a basic "yep, this guy's a shrink."

Anyone know how to find out who's good? Do you just take a leap and try people? It seems like picking by random choice could prove to be disastrous...

Thanks-

-bb.

[italianstang]

Ask for recommendations from people you trust who have used psychologists in your area before.

In general, choose a woman instead of a man. Men don't make good psychologists for the most part.

My mother is a psychologist and I have spent my life around a bazillion co-workers, friends, etc. of hers.

[Humble Pie]

Maybe I'm just lucky, but my court-appointed shrink was great! Although I wouldn't suggest getting 3 DUI's and 2 domestic battery charges in in a 180 day strech, but like I said I was lucky. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[bkholdem]

One idea would be to do a search on which medical school they graduated from, if you could narrow further by their particular specialty or sub interest (such as phobias or schizophrenia or whatever) that might be useful as well. Go online and tool around.

[Tablerat]

A very helpful site for finding a good therapist is Psychology Today.

Enter your zip code or a neighboring one, and if you are anywhere near a metro area, there will be lots of options. You can narrow down the choices depending on the specific provider's strengths, cost, experience, location, type of therapy, etc. Once you gather several names that grab your interest, you can call and have a brief conversation with them and, if you want, set up an introductory appointment. Often, the first appointment will be more expensive than future sessions, but this varies from therapist to therapist. Ask lots of questions. The main question to ask yourself is whether this will be a person that you can trust and will value their opinion. Often times, you will not click with your first choice, so don't lock yourself into any one person immediately. Kinda like the steps toward any other meaningful relationship.

Also, I would recommend doing some research on both the differences between psychologists and psychiatrists, and the various forms of therapy - here's a start: Wiki link. Best of luck.