Mine --> Therapist is 43, pdoc is 38, so they are both older than me. I don't think I could settle for a therapist just out of grad school or a doctor just out of medical/nursing school. I prefer therapists and doctors who are older than me.

My long-time psychiatrist is in his early 70s. I adore him and appreciate his knowledge and experience. I have had younger and female psychiatrists in IOPs and inpatient. Most were just fine. Some were clearly more knowledgeable than others. Some were more caring than others. I'm not fond of psychiatrists that aren't. I think that's reasonable. Don't you?

I have had so many therapists over the years. It's been a rocky road for me with them. During my sickest years, I might have been part of the problem, but in later years, it just seemed to be either bad matches or they were the main problem (I won't go into all of that). I much prefer therapists that are around my age (again, won't go into). It is best that the therapists be female for me, though I have had some issues with female relationships. I very much like and respect my current therapist. I feel I am making very good progress with her. She's a psychologist that's likely my age.

When it comes to therapists, I have much preferred psychologists over social workers.

My long-time psychiatrist (probably 25 years older than me) has scolded me for wanting to avoid social workers and female therapists (at times). He also scolded me once when I said I wanted to avoid therapists younger than myself. He was absolutely right that a female therapist was best, but he seems to have been dead wrong about the psychologists vs. social workers, and my therapist age preference. He doesn't exactly scold me for having a male psychiatrist that's 25 years older than me

[fern46]

My pdocs are in their 50s. That's my best guess anyway. My therapist is in her mid 40s. Their age doesn't really matter to me, but their experience does. It is hard to gain experience if you haven't had enough time to gather it.

[HALLIEBETH87]

My psyd is around 40. Pdoc is older man.

[sophiebunny]

Both in their 60s. Both brilliant and very experienced. I dread when they retire. They are irreplacible

[~Christina]

My T is 72 and my Pdoc is late 60’s

I had tried a few females T’s (one was probably 25-30 , the other early 50’s I think )when I was “ depressed” my first husband cheated , we divorced and my father died. Nope nope nope they were to “ chatty”

Tried another Female when I was in Florida, she was my age and had a personality of a pet rock.

My T and I work on issues, set goals and work towards them.

For me I like people to be straightforward and get to the point with out walking in a circle wasting precious sessions.

When my T eventually retires ( he has no plans to, but if something happens health wise for him or he said if mentally he starts to skip ) I will just be done with Therapy. There is not going to be another “ Richard” out there and I’m not going to regurgitate my life to someone new.

Eventually there will be a new Dr Graves and I’m going to hope he’s not some pill Nazi type. Dr Graves and I both discuss meds and decide what to try over the years. He has never once tried to get me to take something or up doses etc that I wasn’t in agreement with. He’s a brilliant Doctor that truly understands the problems psych meds cause.

I’m very blessed having them both.

[Sunflower123]

The long term pdoc I just left was somewhere in his 50’s. My new NP is in her 40’s. Both ages are okay with me. I had a tdoc that was in her 70’s who I am no longer seeing. Her age was also ok with me.

I have no idea what age my life coach is but I know she has really helped me.

[Moose72]

I have no idea what age my pdoc is- maybe a bit younger than I am? I like her anyway. My other pdocs have all been young interns, for the most part.

[bpcyclist]

Unfortunately, in between therapists at the moment (not good). My PDoc is in his late forties somewhere. I would follow him to the end of the earth. He's the one that put me on lithium and lamictal (to which I had Stevens Johnson Syndrome and had to d/c, sadly), which I am convinced, saved my life. At least in my town, the good ones are hard to find.

[TheSeaCat]

My treatment team can be considered babies compared to some of the ages on this thread. I think my Cardiologist might be the oldest out of my entire treatment team at 35, my PCP is 32, and my Pdoc was pretty much fresh out of residency at 30-31. The Psych I had before him was 34-35 so he was tied with the Cardiologist for a while. I wouldn't trade any of them though; age or not they are excellent medical providers and I couldn't ask for a better team to handle all the issues I have thrown at them the past year.

My pdoc is about a couple decades younger than me. T is even younger. I'm fine with that. Personality and being able to work together well is WAY more important to me than age. I don't know their exact ages and wouldn't dream of asking them. Because a) it doesn't matter to me and b) it's kind of insulting (just ask any professional under the age of forty how they feel about being regarded as incompetant based solely on their age.)

I *do* have a heavy-duty preference for female Ts. Which is kind of funny because I generally get on better with guys. (It's because of some of my issues -- a major one of which stems from a traumatic incident with a male doctor when I was quite young.)

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Both of mine are in their early 60s. This is fine with me although it means both will retire about 2 years apart and that will be incredibly hard as by then I'll have seen each for over 20 years.

I like that they are older than I am but that's not my most important criteria. For whatever reason I work best with male therapists with PhDs. Who knows if that's what I'll end up with next but that's my history. Pdoc wise it hasn't mattered as much although I have liked having one female provider. Now that I'm done with menopause and have had a hysterectomy I'm not sure how much that matters though; not many "women's issues" now.

I really just want these providers to be my provideres forever. Not realistic but if I could have whatever I wanted that would be it.

[Under*Over]

The med provider I saw today is a year older than me. Which means shes YOUNG.

The therapist I am seeing is probably late 20s or early 30s, so they are really young.