cucumber-
You’re welcome, though I think there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding. The issue I am talking about is not a hashkafic one; regarding that I agree with you. It is just that from my experience there are complications with just looking up a shrink in the phonebook, and I’ll explain.
First of all, when someone sees a psychologist for therapy, the therapy will only happen if there is a rapport betweeen the therpist and the patient. It is like a shidduch, the person can be the best psychologist but if it’s not a match it won’t work. What happens when someone is set up with the wrong person, especially if it is more than once, is that they give up – and these are the people you hear ranting about how psychologists never work.
Second of all, just like every doctor goes to med school but one specializes in cardiology, one in podiatry, and the other in dermatology, the same is with psychologists, even though it isn’t officially on the degree. So while one might be really good for helping someone deal with abuse, if one’s main challenge is overcoming addiction a different psychologist might be the answer. This reason as well causes people to give up when they just look someone up in the phonebook, because it isn’t always obvious what the specific doctor’s specialty is, and when they go and it just doesn’t help them they think they have no hope with therapy.
I am not simply speculating, I am talking from experience.
Therefore my suggestion to someone who would like to see a psychologist is to first talk it over in general terms with someone who you feel ‘knows what he/she’s talking about’ and is ‘with the situation’ and have them direct you to someone they think is right for you.