</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
How do I find the GOOD ones, with LOTS of experience, and who actually WANT to treat what I have??

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">Ask your healthcare providers for referrals. Do you have a family doctor? That is an excellent place to start. After you get the referrals, make the calls, and specifically say, "I've been feeling depressed (or whatever your issue is) and I am looking for a therapist who can help." If they don't treat depression, they will tell you, and you can also ask them if they can recommend colleagues who do treat your problem. If I were you, I wouldn't mention too many specific diagnoses. Focus on symptoms. "I am feeling depressed and would like to work with a therapist." Rather than, "I have X, Y, and Z" and list off personality disorders, etc. They will probably want to make their own diagnosis based on your symptoms.

Other places to look for referrals: other professionals such as dentists, physical therapists, lawyers, ministers, rabbis can be good too. But I think the family doctor or other medical doctor is a first place to ask.

I think asking friends for referrals isn't always a good thing. Would you want to go to a friend's therapist? But friends may have heard of good therapists who are not necessarily their own therapists.

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
I just wish I could find out a therapists's strengths and stuff somehow.

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">You can use the first session to gather this information. Don't start doing actual therapy with the therapist until you have asked the questions you need to ask, such as "what are your strengths?", "how long have you been practicing?", "what is your approach to treating depression?" or whatever else you need to know.