A comment in another thread about sessions that were posted, prompted me to wonder about the voices of pdocs and therapists and how much voice plays a role in trust and efficacy of treatment.

Questions for anyone with thoughts on this topic:

Does your pdoc (or pdocs in general) have a particularly creepy way of speaking? Or, if not creepy, then peculiar in they tend to all speak in the same overly modulated tone, as if speaking to someone with the intellect of a lima bean?

Does your therapist have a voice that bothers you in any way, but you are able to get past it?

I recently saw a new pdoc and was completely creeped out by her manner of speaking, then I realized that all the others I've seen at that same clinic spoke the same way. And the therapist I last saw had a voice with zero affect that, the one time we spoke on the phone, left me feeling like she was going to come after me with an axe (tho, it could be her dialect). I was fine with that particular therapist otherwise, as long as it was in person, but the voice alone gave me chills.

[HazelGirl]

I definitely think there is a "therapy" voice, that they have to take a class in college to learn, or something like that. I don't have any evidence of this, but they all sound the EXACT same, so I have to guess they are taught it somewhere

I actually like mine because she DOESN'T do that. I find it really annoying, so I appreciate that she doesn't have that fake therapy voice.

[IndestructibleGirl]

Originally Posted by HazelGirl

I definitely think there is a "therapy" voice, that they have to take a class in college to learn, or something like that. I don't have any evidence of this, but they all sound the EXACT same, so I have to guess they are taught it somewhere

I actually like mine because she DOESN'T do that. I find it really annoying, so I appreciate that she doesn't have that fake therapy voice.

Maybe this is an American thing, I don't think I've come across it before in the UK.

[UnderRugSwept]

I have been in therapy for 30 years (since I was 7) and none of my Ts have had a "therapy voice"...they have all sounded very authentic and unique from each other when they speak (thank god).

I did at one time have a pdoc whose voice never changed when he spoke and neither did his facial expressions. He might have been a robot for all I knew...it was EXTREMELY creepy.

[Abe Froman]

Well, I don't know about pdocs. Met with my first one yesterday for about five minutes. But I'm supposed to see him again Monday or Tuesday(not sure which) and so that will give me something to think about. I will say I agree with the intellect of a lima bean statement. I told him I was annoyed by the program (PHP) and his tone shifted to where at least he was giving me credit for being a higher order fruit rather than a veggie.

But the master's level social worker in the group definitely sounds insincere, like he's spouting off standard responses from some list that don't even pertain to what was just said by someone in the group.

My T on the other hand. She's a mom and a wife and a normal woman. And that's how she sounds. I mean we don't talk about her personal stuff too much, but I can imagine if we were just having coffee or something she would sound pretty much the same, maybe a little more relaxed(I mean she is at work when I talk to her) but she doesn't seem to have any strange tone or way of speaking.

Hazelgirl, thank you for that. I wondered if they got training to talk like that. I respond so much better to authenticity. I guess I just haven't had any luck with it.

I did have a friend with me at this recent appt., and I need to ask her what her impressions of the voice were. I was embarrassed that someone would talk to me like that in front of another person.

Abe, I love the "higher order of fruit." haha

The way you describe your therapist sounds like what I am looking for. It feels more respectful.

Well, I have met a couple of therapists (whose first degree were as psychologists) who spoke in a fairly artificial tone of voice - there are two different ones I'm thinking of, both female. My ex-T, who was also a psychologist before she became a psychotherapist, had a very natural mode of speaking, however. (She was from northern Sweden, which helped ;-) ) And my current T, whose first degree was in psychiatry, has a very nice voice and doesn't sound creepy or contrieved at all. He and I express ourselves in much the same way (to some extent I'm sure that's because he adjusts to me, but most of it is his natural way of speaking, I think.) And even if he had acquired some kind of learned therapy inflection he wouldn't have any use for it with me, since we're not speaking the language he went to university in!

Okay, maybe I need to move to Sweden or the UK for a better chance of authentic/non-creepy interaction.

I googled just now and found studies on tone and voice of psychiatrists as predictors of patient adherence. Oddly, the one study I looked at indicated that the modulated (re: creepy *ss voice) has been proven to be the most effective.

I don't think I have much choice in this with pdocs, but I would really draw the line with a therapist who does this. It's just very hard to find.

[nottrustin]

I am not sure what you mean by therapy voice. Is it the soft, soothing and comforting voice?

If that is the case yes both T and pcdoc have that voice. However, I know them both outside of our sessions (pcdoc was a coworker before being my pcdoc). I have never known them to have a different voice. Most of the drs. I work do not have a different voice except one. One is an AMAZING compassionate man in both his work and personal life. However when he is with patients his voice does change a bit so he is softer. He wants patients to know he cares and they are important and hopes to show that through his voice as well as other actions.

My T has a pretty normal tone of voice most of the time, although I can occasionally hear him go into what I call 'therapist mode' where he seems to suddenly get a bit more reserved and impersonal. His body language also changes -- he becomes much ... stiller. I don't know how to describe it. It's usually when we are discussing things related to HIM. He is not great at talking about himself.

the first t i saw for a total of about 15 minutes before I told him to stop trying to put words in my mouth and got up and stormed out never to return, was one of those heavily modulated, robotic-therapy-voice ones and if I'd walked around behind him before I left, would probably have seen switches and knobs and buttons all up and down his back haha. Not for me. 2nd T had a real enough voice, sounded caring, but since we never connected I didn't see her for very long. I can speak more about current t - she is the most authentic I've heard of any professional - compassionate, can and does laugh at herself, she's used just about every tone of voice I can imagine with me - caring, stern, concerned, angry (although I hated that one), happy, emotionally touched, delighted (when she squealed her excitement that I'd published my book), amazement, awed... she's demonstrated the entire range of human emotion through her voice. I don't see her in person anymore, so voice is all I get over the phone... guess that's why I've noticed! Typing this response has made me wish I'd scheduled for Oct 2nd instead of the 9th... but that's okay. I haven't done ANY of the homework I assigned myself yet....! Glad I still have 2 weeks to get it done. haha yeah, my t's so good that she doesn't have to give me homework anymore, I assign it to myself. She would laugh if she heard me say that.

Nottrustin, for me the creepy therapy voice is a false tone, one that attempts to come across as empathetic and caring, but is too practiced and modulated to be convincing. Of the pdocs I've seen at this particular clinic, only one could sort of pull it off, although it was still phony sounding.

The clinic now requires a questionnaire to be filled out prior to each appt that gauges mood and sui risk and (I think) substance abuse. At the bottom are two questions about the provider's level of caring or something along those lines. I was able to avoid it because I hadn't yet seen this particular pdoc, but next time I don't honestly know how to answer those questions. I would just prefer respect and honest dialog, not caring (not that I want them to be snotty, just...you know, a normal person if that's at all possible).

Art-within, this: "heavily modulated, robotic-therapy-voice." Thank you, that's exactly it. I almost felt like an episode of Gilligan's Island where Gillian is being hypnotized. At one point, she would ask me questions that didn't feel like questions so much as suggestions. They were more along the lines of telling me what I was feeling or wanted to do, to get some relief from symptoms. I was glad to have a friend there.

[BlessedRhiannon]

I've noticed that both pdoc and t tend to match their voice to mine. What I mean by that is that if I'm speaking softly or slowly, they tend to mirror that. If I'm being more animated in my inflections, they are too. They never talk down to me or anything and it never feels artificial or condescending. It might be artificial or it might just be that my pdoc and t are well attuned to me. I often hear a note of caring in both of their voices, which kinda wigs me out a little, as I'm not comfortable with having other show they care for me, but I'm slowly learning to appreciate it.

I don't think either of them has a particularly creepy or "therapy-ish" voice during appointments

The false tone is the same kind of thing as having "caring" stock phrases that they trot out which sound completely tired and fake, right? I've never really experienced that but I don't have that much experience of different therapists...
And yes, I can recommend having a British T. Works really well for me

[ScarletPimpernel]

None of my Ts or Pdocs have sounded the same. I'm in the US and have had 8 Ts and 9 Pdocs.

Some have authoritative tones. Some were just simply ***holes

My T talks in her normal voice expect when I'm struggling...tthen she whispers. My Pdoc also talks in a normal voice. She changes her vocabulary more so then tone when I'm struggling. Both are strong women (my Pdoc can be intimidating if you aren't used to her), but both show care via tone. And I don't consider either one creepy.

[H3rmit]

Sort of on a tangent, why did my crappy physics prof have that creepy robotic therapy voice? The other (g)ood physics profs had voices full of childlike enthusiasm, but at least that makes sense!

[Freewilled]

Idk....my T kind of has a "therapist voice" or contrived way of responding sometimes....he also almost whispers when I am really freaking out with the anxiety or whatever is wrong with me lol But I don't want him to really care about me. I DO NOT want him to hate me but that's about it. I want him to treat me as part of a job he has where he is serious and passionate about helping people and I just happen to be one of those people. I don't give a **** if he is creepy sounding as long as it works