[Ms.Lizette]

I have been trying to count....I have struggled with chronic anorexia and after that BPD, and I moved a lot, so I have had MANY.

......probably 15-17 therapists in 16 years.....(not including the more weird ones such as "spiritual mentors")......maybe 2-3 have helped somewhat, most of them have just been short treatments with no clear result. I tried so many methods, styles, ages, etc ....

However, even though many haven't helped, many of them kind of stay in my head, and I miss them and think about them. They form a dark cloud of longing and sadness, of all the things I lost

....now currently for the first time trying something specifically tailored for my diagnosis....so I hope this is my last therapist for a while. I am so tired of it! If it wasn't because I am still suicidal and my life is quite messed up I would never step on a therapy room again

Just curious...how many therapists have YOU had?

[feileacan]

I saw one psychologist once more than 15 years ago - that was useless.

Then I tried holistic therapy for four sessions about 5 years ago - that was also useless.

I've seen my current therapist-psychoanalyst for 3 years with one year gap between years 2 and 3 and it has been extremely useful.

I saw another psychoanalyst during the gap year and that was very useful too.

I don't plan to change therapists unless I necessarily have to and if that happens I plan to stick to psychoanalysts.

Only 3 that I really count. I worked with two of them for around 2 1/2 years each, about a decade apart. The third for around ten years most recently.

I tried out another 5 or 6 at various stages along the way, but only a few sessions before I knew they were pretty useless for a variety of reasons.

[DodgersMom]

2. one as a teen but i only went to her 2x

and my current one. i been there 2 months

[captgut]

One.

I also had one session with 2 Ts (my T wanted to hear her opinion about me)
And another T "tested" me. I'm not sure about the English word, sorry. It was "test" where I had to draw, choose pictures etc

[kaleidoscopeheart]

This is my first and I've only been with him for a little over 6 months now. Truthfully, I am about 20 years later to doing therapy than I should have been though.

[toomanycats]

3 in childhood that I can recall...possibly more.

Tried about 7-10 in adulthood but only really stuck with 3. One randomly decided to drop me after a couple of months :\ One I was with for 3 years, and now he's moving.... and now I'm with a new one. I never thought I'd be with anyone new after the last one

[subtle lights]

Originally Posted by Ms.Lizette

......probably 15-17 therapists in 16 years.....(not including the more weird ones such as "spiritual mentors")......maybe 2-3 have helped somewhat, most of them have just been short treatments with no clear result. I tried so many methods, styles, ages, etc ....

I'm wondering how easy or difficult was to leave them and switch to another one? You seem to have some expeience with therapy endings...
I'm asking this because this is my issue, I get attached regardless if they are beneficial to me or not (and then I find it hard to assess that)

I've only had two, one about ten years ago for two years and one now (also I've had one session with another one two years ago but that doesn't count)
Sometimes having nostalgic thoughts about the one from ten years ago....
Right now I would need possibly to switch, but I don't know and just the thought of it freaks me out and makes me feel uneasy (understatment....)

[stopdog]

I tried one in my 20s for a couple of years. I tried one (whackball) in my late 30s for about 3 months. Then I tried seeing two at the same time in my late 40s. That has worked out the best.

4 long-term individual Ts, 1 long-term therapist-y pdoc, 1 long-term family therapist.

[wheeler]

I've had 3 that have impacted me considerably, including the one I'm seeing now.
A few along the way that weren't good matches for me.
The first 2 of the 3 ended horribly, two much to write about here. However the one I'm with
Now will hopefully be my last. Honestly I feel like this is the first time I'm doing 'real' therapy. Of course I am frightened to death that will end horribly too. We've been
Working together for 18 months and it has extremely difficult and challenging but I
Think that may be the only way of getting thru it. I wish there was
An easier way but I'm hoping the payoff will be worth it.

[Ms.Lizette]

Originally Posted by toomanycats

3 in childhood that I can recall...possibly more.

Tried about 7-10 in adulthood but only really stuck with 3. One randomly decided to drop me after a couple of months :\ One I was with for 3 years, and now he's moving.... and now I'm with a new one. I never thought I'd be with anyone new after the last one

That's a lot of changes. It starts getting hard to believe and have hope for me after so many

How do you feel about your current therapist?

[Ms.Lizette]

Originally Posted by wheeler

I've had 3 that have impacted me considerably, including the one I'm seeing now.
A few along the way that weren't good matches for me.
The first 2 of the 3 ended horribly, two much to write about here. However the one I'm with
Now will hopefully be my last. Honestly I feel like this is the first time I'm doing 'real' therapy. Of course I am frightened to death that will end horribly too. We've been
Working together for 18 months and it has extremely difficult and challenging but I
Think that may be the only way of getting thru it. I wish there was
An easier way but I'm hoping the payoff will be worth it.

I really understand this, I am in the same boat right now. My current therapist is helping and for the first time I feel really understood, which only makes me fear losing him even more or fear that it will end in a bad way

I have to try though, have to give it all I have now...

[Ms.Lizette]

Originally Posted by subtle lights

I'm wondering how easy or difficult was to leave them and switch to another one? You seem to have some expeience with therapy endings...

Well most of my therapists I had when I was sick with anorexia, and at that time I felt quite detached from things in general....so some of them I left without much pain so to say. After I recovered weight-wise from anorexia things changed a LOT though....., and I experience the same type of extreme attachment you describe.

So what I am trying to say many of these endings didn't feel so bad to me, it started feeling bad 3 years ago when I recovered from anorexia but instead got diagnosed with BPD. It's kind of like all the feelings came out.....so now I am terrible at endings and I obsess about my therapists

Two in my early 40's. I saw each of them regularly for about a year (not overlapping). Now I just go to sessions here and there and I choose from the two based on what I want to discuss. Sometimes I have ideas that I want to try someone new but then usually feel it would be a waste of time given that these two know a lot about me already.

2 the first who I seen for about 6 months and the other one I saw for about 2+ years. I don't have a therapist now, I can't afford it.

[skysblue]

Only one and I've been seeing her for more than 6 years. I got lucky. She's the best.

[jesswah]

I've had 3. One I was dragged to as a kid, but I don't remember. Another in college (probably a trainee) that was such an awful experience I didn't see another for 13 years. And my current one, who is the only one that has been helpful.

[LostOnTheTrail]

Two grief counsellors, one 'regular' counsellor (under whose care I cried in almost every session...damn, that was healing.), then P, and now R.

Yikes, before I wrote this out, I was going to say four. Forgot that I'm now up to 5.

[atisketatasket]

That I've seen more than twice - from 3/15 to now, five. In less than two years (started with the incumbent in 2/17). Due to my itinerant lifestyle and apparently much too high standard that they do their friggin job.

I also saw one back in college, 15 years or so ago, for 6-7 weeks just before I graduated.

[waterlogged]

I've seen 4. One in my 20s for 12 sessions - she was lovely but I only had 12 sessions paid for and couldn't really manage to keep going. I saw another after my first kid was born and she was TERRIBLE. I stopped going after she told me the powerf antipsychotic she put me on didn't cause side effects. The 3rd one was decent and I picked up some good skills, but wasn't the right fit or the right kind of therapy. Now I've been seeing a psychoanalyst for the last 3 years (though she was really just starting her analytic training when I started with her). It's been the right combo of fit and modality for me.

[ScarletPimpernel]

I had 3 Ts from age 13 to 15. Not counting the Ts I saw for less than a month, I've had 5 Ts as an adult. The longest relationship was for 4 years. Only 3 out of the 8 were good Ts.

[elisewin]

Only one, the best

[bounceback]

8 therapists, from being seen for about 1 year to the longest being seen for about 7 years

[benzenering]

Three...the first one called me out but didn't address my main issues, i.e. maybe scared of me? The second was useless. The third, my current one, who is actually the opposite sex, had been great. Still a work in progress. Been with him for 9 months.