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ErinBear said:
Dear Sunrise,

Thanks for your message - I appreciate it. I think the T was mostly believing in CBT ideas, but I'm not sure if he uses other ideas too. It seems like some Ts out there use a blend of concepts.

I was working with a counselor last year and we had such an excellent working relationship. I think he had a blend of working concepts, but mostly a psychodynamic approach. I think I did better in that sort of format.
Take care,
ErinBear

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First, I am so sorry that this relationship did not work out for you.

It's true that most Ts these days are quite eclectic in their approaches to working with clients. However, there are some that are pretty rooted in whatever school of thought they have chosen to identify themselves with. And that's not a bad thing at all-- it's just that as a client, you want to make sure that you end up working with someone whose technique matches your personality. For example, my T is strictly psychoanalysis.... with object relations as well. You couldn't do anything to make this guy do one cognitive or behavioral thing. That is absolutely wonderful for me since I am completely psychodynamic in my approach to therapy as well. However, it's not going to work with everyone. If you have already identified yourself as someone who works well with psychodynamic approaches, then you should definitely go ahead and look for a T that will work with you in that way. It's great that you know what you will respond to. And it's not always a bad thing when something doesn't work out, even if it feels bad-- at least you know now what doesn't work, you know? My first T was eclectic, used some psychodynamics, definitely threw in some cognitive stuff as well-- didn't work for me. But had I not gone with her, I wouldn't have really known.

Good luck in finding a new T. Don't be afraid to 'screen' them by asking what techniques they use.

BTW: T's that are strictly cognitive really aren't too interested in spending time on feelings. They believe that our thoughts are responsible for our feelings, but they don't really go any further than that-- they want to work on changing the thoughts so that you don't feel bad-- this is not a bad thing; it's cognitive therapy. I just wanted to add that because I didn't want people to get the wrong idea just because your T said time should be spent talking about thoughts, not feelings.