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sunrise said:
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Riptide said:
In addition, there are MS degrees in counselling and family therapy and social work. These people can be very good, but tend to focus on what I call "skills" training and not in-depth analysis. If you don't want to do in-depth analysis or find the true answer to your problem, skills training can be great for getting rid of symptoms quickly. Many of these level treater practice Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">My therapist has only a master's and does do depth work and works with the client to find the true cause of the problems, so meccorad, if you are looking for depth work, don't necessarily eliminate these people. It is a very diverse group, with many different trainings. My T is not CBT, however another master's level therapist I went to was CBT. And my daughter's therapist has only a master's and does do depth work. It is probably best just to ask what their therapeutic approach is at the outset and see if it matches what you are looking for.

Here's a short article on PsychCentral that might be of interest and has some links to related articles as well:
Do Educational Degrees Matter?

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I must agree with Sunny here. My T has an Masters in Social Science and he is also a Licensed Social Worker. I started with him at a psychoanalytic institute so that tells you how in depth even someone with "just a Masters" can get. We don't do skills training or anything like that. It is LONG term therapy. I am also a therapist with a Masters and I focus mostly on the psychodynamic orientation with other things added in, depending on the client. I do therapy with many psychotic individuals, so straight psychodynamic isn't always going to work.

Also, as someone who is attending a Psy.D. program, I would have to say that there is nothing less about a Psy.D. than a Ph.D. They are equal degrees, one being focused in research and the other in clinical studies.

Just keep doing your research-- I wouldn't worry so much about the degree than what the person actually specializes in. I chose my T because he specialized in psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapy. I didn't even know what degree he had until the 2nd year into our therapy. I didn't care. We have such an awesome relationship, he could be a bum off the street, lol.