I went to sessions with two therapists before choosing the one I'm with now, but I also talked to one more (who recommended my T to me) because she was the emergency psychiatrist on call one night.

So I got a recommendation for going to him, the other two I just found by going to my schools counselling service.

I did check on each of their qualifications, experience and so on. My T was the only psychiatrist, the others were psychologists. This was important to me, although I know many psychiatrists do not offer talk therapy.

His approach did not really affect my decision, since I did not know enough about different methods at that time (however, looking back, I'd say it would certainly be important to me to choose a proper treating method for my issue and just by chance I chose someone who has fitting approaches).

For me, the things that were important that made me choose my T over the other ones were:
- he is male (I feel more comfortable with men)
- he didn't question things I said (one of the other Ts questioned things that were not even relevant to my issues)
- he actually seemed to know how to work with mental issues (one of the other Ts seemed to not even understand that I had issues...)
- he did not offer advice on how to talk to my mother about money (again one of the other Ts did, I feel it is inappropriate for Ts to offer advice when they do not know your situation yet)
- he didn't make me wait for half an hour in the waiting room
- he did not tell me that I would have to be "cured" in half a year or that I needed to work on "showing my emotions so he could treat me"
- we got along well in the initial sessions

The last point was probably most important to me. With all other Ts, I did not feel like they understood what I was talking about, or like they were not interested in what I had to say. I certainly did not feel like my T and I could be best friends or anything, but I felt comfortable talking to him and still do.

Provided with the same choices, I would definitely take the same T again. If I had to search for a new one, I'd probably try to find somebody who knows how to treat the issues I have. But I'd always go to at least a couple of sessions before deciding whether I like a T, since the relationship you develop with your therapist to me is one of the most important factors in how well therapy will work.