[Chaussetin]

I've been going to therapy for 2 years now (I started going after a bad experience I had with some "friends", and school , which sort of brought me down) and what really bothers me is that I've never got a diagnosis. My T has never told what's wrong with me or what's her plan. Every week it's the same thing, I just talk about how my week went, and that's basically it. It's nice , but I mean I feel it's kind of useless after a while. Like she knows everything about me, yet I still feel a little bit uncomfortable around her. I' ve asked her before about this situation (not having a diagnosis or plan to work on) and she just tells me, "you will see", I mean, when? The truth is and I'm starting to get bored of going each week, telling her the same thing and feeling the same way. Now the question is , should I end therapy? If so, how? Should I find another therapist?

[MoxieDoxie]

You did not get a diagnosis because there is no diagnosis. You had a situation with fellow students at school not a mental health disorder. The reason you find this all boring is because you worked through that event, you are mentally healthy and do not need a therapist now.

Take a break from therapy for a while. You can always go back if you feel you need to for some reason.

[LonesomeTonight]

Do you feel like you still want/need therapy? If so, I'd suggest you look for a different therapist. It sounds like you've sort of hit a dead end with this one, which can happen. It happened with my ex-T, who I saw for 6 years. With her, we made progress on things in the beginning, then, much like you said, I ended up spending much of the time updating her on my week (or on my marriage counseling sessions, but that's a whole other story that I won't go into here). I did have a diagnosis (generalized anxiety and panic disorder, plus some depression), but felt I wasn't making progress on it. We also had some goals in the beginning, but those sort of fell away.

I decided to try a different T, maybe just for a couple months, figuring I'd go back to ex-T. I ended up staying with him (and have been seeing him for a year and a half). He has more clear goals for me and doesn't really let me get away with just spending the whole session talking about what happened in the past few days--he will redirect things if I end up doing that (I mean, of course I can talk about things that happened, but then we tend to connect them to a bigger picture). I feel I've made much more progress with him. I think I just needed a change, a different approach.

As for where to find a new T, I found both of mine at Psychology Today. You can search by location, gender, type of therapy, etc.

[sarahsweets]

If you think you have a mental health disorder and want a diagnosis you will have to see a doctor.

[Lrad123]

I don’t think that seeing a therapist requires a mental health diagnosis. We all have blind spots and we’ll all encounter bumps along the road at times. If it helps to see a therapist, then by all means do it. It sounds like this one may not be working for you now, so I’d suggest expressing your frustration with them if you think they might be helpful or finding a different therapist if therapy seems like something that could be helpful for you. I think it’s all about finding someone who’s the right fit and it might not be the first therapist you meet.

[LonesomeTonight]

Originally Posted by sarahsweets

If you think you have a mental health disorder and want a diagnosis you will have to see a doctor.

A licensed psychologist can give a mental health diagnosis. I believe LCSWs can as well (mine did, anyway!) As well as psychiatrists, but that could be what you meant by "doctor."

[Taylor27]

You can always take a break from therapy and see how things go. Not everyone who goes to therapy gets a diagnoses but you can always ask for a referral to someone else if she doesn't do diagnoses. Also talking to her about what you wrote here might be very helpful for the both of you to see if you still need weekly or you might be ready to stop for now. You can also return back to therapy at anytime. Best of luck to you and welcome to pc. Hugs

[Xynesthesia2]

You could tell her directly that you don't find it useful the way your therapy is going and suggest specific things to work on. Also interview other Ts and see if they seem more in line with your expectations.