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Psychotherapy FAQs
What is psychotherapy?
Psychotherapists help individuals, couples, and families to explore, address, and resolve emotional and behavioral patterns that may get in the way of creating healthy, satisfying relationships and achieving life goals. Therapy is a collaborative process that requires active involvement from both of us.
I'm not sure whether to do psychotherapy right now. How can I decide?
I recommend an evaluation session. In that session, we'll explore your current situation, along with your questions and concerns about therapy. I'll work with you to determine whether therapy would be appropriate for you at this time, and if it is, whether both of us feel an interest in working together. If you're interested in therapy but we decide it isn't appropriate for us to work together, I'd be happy to provide referrals to other therapists.
How often are psychotherapy sessions, how long are they, and how many would I need?
Typically, I conduct weekly psychotherapy sessions with clients. Depending on the client and the issues we're focused on, I find that it is often wise to meet weekly in order to maintain continuity in our work and make progress as quickly as clients want. Although I prefer meeting at a regular day and time, my schedule is flexible and am often able to move appointments around.
However, there are frequently exceptions to the weekly structure for therapy. Some clients work with me more frequently, at least for a time. Some clients work with me less frequently -- for example, because of their travel schedules.
Sessions are usually 50 minutes, although I do 75-minute and 100-minute sessions when we agree in advance to do so.
It's impossible to predict the duration of therapy, particularly without knowing you, the issues you'd like to work on, and how you'd define success. Sometimes -- for example, with pre-marital therapy, or with a very specific, straightforward issue -- I might work quite briefly and yet successfully with a client: say, 4-6 sessions. Often, I'm working with clients for months. Sometimes, I'll work with clients for years. Also, at times clients will do some work with me, achieve their goals, take a break, and then resume therapy at a later date to pursue other goals.
Will my insurance company pay for any or all of the therapy?
Possibly. These days, insurance companies are all over the map with their coverage (or lack thereof) for mental health services. I recommend that you investigate the mental health benefits in your plan, particularly any coverage for "out-of-network providers," as I'm not in any plan's network. A number of my clients have had success with their insurance company reimbursing them for all or part of my services.
Although I require payment of the fee we've agreed to at each session, I'm happy to help work with your insurance company. I can provide a statement of services provided whenever you'd like, and can file your claims for you if you wish. I'm also happy to follow up with the company by phone if there are problems with your reimbursment and you've not been successful in trying to resolve the problems.
Please be aware that if you decide to involve your insurance company in your treatment, they will require information from you and/or I about the treatment. The information required varies from company to company. Since confidentiality is central and crucial to my work with clients, I always ask for your written permission before releasing any information (including the existence of the therapy itself) to your insurance company. I also always strive to release the absolute minimum amount of information that will meet the company's requirements. If you're considering involving your insurance company, I recommend that you investigate and know in advance what information your insurance company requires from both of us.
How do I decide whether to do individual therapy, couples/family therapy, or both?
Call me, and let's talk through the factors involved for you. Once I hear those, I can make a recommendation on how to proceed.
Sometimes, when there is difficulty or conflict between two (or more) people, it's a wise move to pursue couples therapy or family therapy. On the other hand, sometimes -- for example, in certain domestic violence situations -- it's not wise. And sometimes not all of the people involved are willing to participate -- or at least, not at first.
On the other hand, clients frequently work through relationship issues in individual therapy. Some clients find it a better "fit" to wrestle with these issues without the presence of the person or people with whom they're in conflict.
And at times, relationship partners work in individual therapy concurrent with their couples or family therapy.
What's an MFT?
The MFT, or Marriage and Family Therapist license, is issued by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences to therapists who have a Master's degree in Clinical or Counseling Psychology, who have completed 3,000 hours of supervised clinical experience, and who have passed both licensing examinations administered by the Board. License renewal requires 36 hours of continuing education every two years. The license allows the MFT to provide psychotherapy to individuals, couples, families and children. MFT used to be referred to as MFCC.
There are three other types of licensed professionals who provide psychotherapy in California:
• Psychiatrists: Medical Doctors who have specialized in psychiatry. They are the only mental health practitioners who can prescribe medication as well as conduct psychotherapy. I recommend that any psychiatrist you see be "board-certified" in psychiatry.
• Clinical Psychologists: Along with receiving a Ph.D. in psychology or educational psychology, have completed 3,000 hours of supervised clinical practice and passed two examinations.
• Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs): Along with receiving a Master's degree in Social Work, have completed 3200 supervised hours of clinical practice and passed two examinations.
How does the free, 30-minute screening for depression or anxiety work?
We'll spend the first few minutes talking about what you've been going through. I'll then ask you to complete a brief, written screening test, in which you'll answer some questions about what you've been experiencing. (The test was developed at Harvard and is used nationally.) I'll score the test, interpret the score for you, and make some recommendations about what you might do to feel better.
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