You are not insane and I also know what your therapist was doing. it is part of the transitional process for the outgoing therapist to tell the client that the next therapist will not be doing things the same way as they have done and that at times it will seem like the two therapists are oposites in how they do things. The reason they do this is because it is supposed to make the transition cycle easier on the client because the client does not go through so much of the thinking process of " so and so would not have said this, had me do that, asked me something like that" By preparing the client for the fact that the new therapist is not a clone of him or herself and has their own way of doing things the new therapist can start with the client without the client having any preconcieved ideas of how things are going to be. They can meet each other a few times with the old therapist and then the old therapist steps out of the transition so that the new therapist and client can start talking about where the client is right now and the goals based on right now instead of repeating the same stuff over again. This way the client continues to move forwards and does not lose ground during the transition cycle of feelings. Therapists can go through the same exact training and work under the same exact therapist but no two therapists are the same. just like no two rape survivors are the same. they go through the same basic stuff of being abused but they work their healing cycles at different rates and different things work for different people. therapists are the same way no two do therapy time the same way covering the same material in exactly the same way. Instead they look at where the client is right now in the present and base things on what the client needs right now. In the upcoming weeks you and your new therapist will be setting new goals for you based on what is happening in your life right now.

Right now because you are in the transition thought cycle you most likely will not like anyone that is chosen for your new therapist mainly because you don't want to lose the old therapist. So give it some time. Look at the new therapist as an opportunity to learn new skills and take care of your present by setting new goals based on what right problems you have in your life right now. I think of it kind of like when I was in school and had to move on to a new grade or class work. The teachers were not the same and they did not teach the same way but with each one I gained new skills and better functioning of the things that were taught. The teacher was the tool and I was the one that had to complete the work.

The therapist is the tool and client has to complete the work. A good therapy experience does not matter who the therapist is. every therapist has the potential to be a great therapist. They base what goes on in therapy on each individual client and what their needs are.

So your part in therapy is to decide what your problem areas are and what you think you want to accomplish during your therapy time and possible ideas on how or what you can do with your therapist help. The therapist job is to look at what you have chosen to work on and challenge you to complete your goals by looking at all sides of the situation so that you can see many solutions that you would like to try to apply to your problem both inside and outside of the therapy room.

For example one of my goals I have set for myself is to get rid of a nightmare that I have.

My brainstorming ideas for solutions are-
rewrite the nightmatre so that it has a middle and ending
Self talk
grounding
relaxing activities that will calm and help me get back to sleep
talk about nightmare
write about nightmare
hypnosis (relaxation visualization

All of which I can work on alone or with my therapist. Then I took my problem to my therapist with my ideas. SKR and I tried all of them and we were in the process of doing the last one - hypnosis (visualization relaxations when we chose LL as my new therapist. Instead of redoing everything that we have already done LL and I are picking up where SKR and I left off. LL mentioned doing each of the above in asking me if I had tried them but she did not make me redo them because we had already tried those ideas.

LL does not do things exactly like SKR. She's not SKR but I have continued moving forwards in other areas while with LL for the past 2 years mainly because LL does not do things exactly the same way so I have an opportunity to see things from yet another point of view.

Transitioning to someone new is a royal pain but it will work out for you if you give it a chance instead of falling into the "past therapist isn't like that , would not have done things this way and so on) your present therapist has basically gotten you ready for looking at things from a new point of view. Take him up on that and run with it and see where it goes. You may surprise yourself on what you will soon be learning.

Hang in there