Two Therapists?

Hey there,

I just have a question. Is it ok to have two therapists at the same time. I have had one for a long long time, but he does not deal with eating disorders and I am going down hill with the anorexia, so I found a psychologist that is an eating disorder specialist. I went to see her yesterday and she told me that it is unusual for someone to be seeing two therapists. I am not going to give up my first therapist. So I think if I am going to deal with the anorexia and the other issues this is just the way it is going to have to be.

I just wanted to know if what anyone else thinks about this. I do not plan on working the the psychologist very long, just long enough to get the anorexia in order.

Cyan

I think it is unusual but I'm seeing two therapists as well.

One is a councellor. I've found it hard to click with her. But in time... Maybe after 5 months or so... We have just started to get along a lot better. I think it is that I've come to trust her more so I've been able to disclose more and she understands more about what kind of response is theraputic to me.

Another is a psychiatrist. I've just started with him recently. I guess that is more specifically focused on dissociation. He has some experience with dissociative disorders whereas the other one has experience treating trauma and borderline personality (which are related disorders) but not dissociation in particular.

I'm a bit bad though because they don't know about each other...

I'll make a decision early next year.

The councellor has been away and isn't coming back until next year at any rate so I haven't been seeing them at the same time.

Anyway, enough about me (aargh!). Yes, I think that sometimes it can be useful to see more than one t especially when different t's have different areas of expertise. I know that some people see an individual t and a marriage therapy t, for instance. Or an individual t for general purposes (didn't know what to call that lol) and then a more specific t for sex therapy or an eating disorder or something like that.

It could work well.

I got an online therapist when my therapist went away for several months and when she came back she said it would be better if I only had one so I stopped corresponding with my online one. I see the point; it's hard to "split" one's attention that way and I too believe that everything is connected to everything else so working on one thing helps with others and vice versa so there's bound to be conflict of some sort if you get two "systems" going at once working on different problems, etc., just the effort to keep them straight and out of each other's hair, etc. takes away from efforts to work on one's problems directly. The less "organization" one needs with therapy, the better I've found it to be for me; that's why I'm glad the therapist is in charge of framing/"containment" and transference/countertransference, etc. My therapist set up a day and time we both agreed on and she was extremely good at not being late or missing any sessions, just as I was for my part. I didn't have to think about any "outside" factors in my therapy, could just concentrate on what I was working on.

I'm not sure about the 'two therapists' idea.

I mean...

Some people have two parents and I'm fairly sure those parents are sometimes very different with respect to expectations and discipline and the like.

But most kids cope okay eh?

I don't see how having two therapists is any different...

But yeah, I know that therapists quite often say that that is why it isn't good to see two therapists at the same time. I'm not convinced though.

Hi Cyan,

If it helps at all - I'm seeing two therapists at the same time as well. One is in training (will be certified by about April next year) and the other is fully licensed and has been for many many years (and for the record, I got in contact with them from two different sources and they don't know each other at all).

I've yet to tell either of them that I'm seeing another person for a couple of reasons.

First, their approaches are quite different. The newer therapist (he) is more into emotional and interpersonal aspects. She (the more experienced T) is into a whole bunch of little things to the point where I couldn't even describe it!

I'm seeing two of them for another reason which has to do with time constraints. He is new, he needs clients in order to be certified and my first T was in the same program and she was wonderful so I figured why not? He's readily available when he's at my university so it's easy for me.

She (on the other hand) is under time constraints because she is through my university's health services. Currently she has far too many clients and not enough time. She really can't see me every week and I think I need it. Unfortunately, priority goes to people currently suicidal (I'm not) or currently self-injuring (I'm not really). So I see her every 3-5 weeks. Not very beneficial by any stretch of the imagination but she really is good - even if it's only for an hour in that period of time.

When he (the new T) graduates, I'll be back to one person but I don't see any reason why it should pose an issue to be seeing two people at once. (Unless they go about things in totally different ways and when you bring forth one of their ideas to the other T they disvalue it and dislike it vehdemently.)

If it helps you at all - keep doing it. If you can even convince them to share information back and forth (of course with your permission) it could further benefit you.

Specialization is meant to be helpful and if one way of doing things isn't helping you with issues that you would like support in - it is your right as a client to "shop around"" for someone to fill in the area of expertise you might need.

Hopefully I've helped without rambling too much (I do that a bit unfortunately).

Take care of yourself.

Sometimes there are good reasons for a second therapist, such as to address a specific issue (eating disorder, or something) that the first one doesn't have experience with, while the first is helping you with everything else. It is very important that they do know about each other and can communicate to coordinate your treatment though. Otherwise there can be a problem with triangulation, where you can get into a pattern of playing one off of the other, and that doesn't help anybody.

It's true that some people have two parents. Usually the two parents know about each other and communicate with each other about how to raise each child, and what is going on, and what the child needs at a particular time. Sometimes the parents don't communicate or have different ideas on child-rearing. Triangulation happens, and usually that is a big problem. The idea is not to replicate dysfuctional family issues, or create them, with two therapists.

Hey there,

Thanks so much for your replies. Both my therapists know about the other. I started seeing the psychologist to deal with anorexia, my counselor does not have the experience in that area, but he is great with my other issues and he knows me so well. When I did tell him about the psychologist he was very happy that I was going to see her. And they are to talk on the phone with each other. When I started seeing the psychologist for the eating disorder I had it in my mind that I would go to 6 monthly appointments and then be done, it doesn't look like it is going to work that way. I think I am going to be with her for a while.

Thanks,
Cyan