Bether,

I've asked myself the same question at times: do I have the right therapist for me?? She is a very good therapist and has been in clinical work for 20 years. Most of her work involves counseling persons with trauma issues surrounding chronic medical problems (she works in a respiratory hospital). But at times she has also had a private practice, where I'm sure she dealt with a breadth of problems including depression, anxiety, couples work, and so forth. She has told me before that when she first began working with me, she did not realize for awhile how deep my issues went.

Over the 10 years we've worked together, she has also questioned at times whether she has the skills and capability to help me resolve my issues. But she has always decided that she could, and she has taken additional training at times when she has needed to learn more (such as learning DBT, some CBT, etc., in addition to her EMDR and psychodynamic work).

I'm sure I'm a challenging (if not exhausting at times) patient. Had she known all my problems from the beginning, she may not have taken me as a patient (she didn't say that -- but it's my guess). But now that she has, she is very committed to sticking by me and helping me heal. She also knows that I'm attached to her (though insecurely), and I wouldn't want to go see somebody else. I think it would be really devastating for me at this point to terminate and not be able to see her anymore.