How To Find The Right Therapist: WebMD Discovered Podcast

 Recently, on WebMD Health Discovered podcast, Dr. Neha Pathak hosted Dr. Sue Varma, who spoke about the challenges of finding the right therapist, from researching available therapists and navigating health insurance to addressing our blocks to seeking therapy in the first place. Dr. Varma is a board-certified psychiatrist and author of forthcoming book, Practical Optimism: The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being. 

 

In this episode, Drs. Pathak and Varma explore how to get the mental health support you need. You can check out the full episode here. 

 

Available to stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart, some highlights in the episode include: 

• 07:20 - Unpacking the different types of therapists and their backgrounds:

o    “There are so many different specialties where you can have trained mental health professionals who are excellent who have different degrees. There are licensed clinical social workers who have been trained in psychotherapy, some of them might have specialties in [children], some are marriage counselors, some might be working with adults.” 

o    “Then you have psychologists who might be PhDs or might be PsyDs, which is a different degree: more clinical, less research thesis-based. Then you have MDs who go to medical school, as we did, and then train in psychiatry.” 

• 13:26 - Progress and reaching goals:
• “I like to have objectives and goals. I know every clinician is different. My end goal is to help them be their best selves without me, and at the end of the day, therapy really is, at best, once a week, 45 minutes, right? So then, who are you the rest of the time? And, do you have those coping skills to regulate your emotion, to solve problems effectively, interpersonally, to be able to get along and navigate challenges? So, at the end of the day, I will feel as if my job is done if I get a session to say, “You know, I’m doing really well.” And, I think that we can either pull back, we don’t need to do this weekly, we can do this every other week. Sometimes, we can do this every other month. And then, the frequency changes over time.” 
• 19:08 - Asking the right questions:
• “When it comes to finding a therapist, there are so many tools nowadays. Number one, first of all, maybe just starting with the insurance company. Do they have a list, and asking them, who is still actively taking new patients? The biggest challenge I hear is people will say, if they’re lucky enough to have insurance, that most of the people [they’re] calling aren’t taking, they’re full.” 
• “The second thing is asking your job. Your job might have a benefit, whether it’s online health platforms or other groups that they might be paying for the therapy, so, you don’t have to pay a co-pay or maybe out-of-pocket.” 
• “Then something like Psychology Today or ZocDoc.com gives you the bios, and it tells you a little bit about the person. Read their history. What is their specialty” 
• 22:49 - The four M’s that may help stay improve mental health:
• “Movement, mastery, meaningful engagement and mindfulness. So, these are four tips that I tell people that’s part prevention, part maintenance and part treatment. They are all science-backed.” 

 

Finding the right therapist can be challenging. Before we ever attend our first session, we must navigate health insurance, research available therapists who can meet our needs, and address our blocks to seeking therapy in the first place. So when should we seek help? How do we start looking for a therapist? What happens if we find a therapist and are unsure if they are the right fit? How can we practice self-care while waiting for an appointment?

This podcast, and others like it, can help us navigate the U.S. mental health system. The system is so broken it can make you crazy.