Rating Your Psychotherapist - Rating the Therapist Office

Written by B.J.

Table 3: The Setting
Rate Your Therapist
This is how my therapist's office is set up:

Sound Answers

• He/she maintains a private office in a professional building.
• There is a bathroom readily accessible from the waiting room.
• There is a door in the therapist's office that allows me to leave without having to go back through the waiting room.
• The furnishings are tasteful but not obtrusive.
• The windows have shades or blinds that are closed.
• The office is soundproof.

Questionable-to-Unsound Answers: Reconsider Your Choice of Therapist

• He/she maintains a home-office separate from his/her living quarters.

  advertisement

• He/she shares the waiting room with other therapists, so I'm usually not alone there.
• He/she has an office in a clinic.
• The only bathroom is just off the therapist's consultation room.
• I always meet the next patient in the waiting room on my way out.

Dangerous Answers: Beware of This Therapist

• He/she uses his/her living quarters as an office.
• When I go to my therapist's home-office, I'm aware of his/her family.
• My therapist's office isn't soundproofed; you can hear what's being said inside - particularly if someone is shouting or crying.

Table 4: The First Interaction
Rate Your Therapist
This is how my therapist handled the first interaction:

Sound Answers

• He/she seemed to be concerned and listening.
• He/she said very little - restricting comments to attempts to help me understand myself better.
• He/she answered no questions, but sought more exploration from me.
• He/she said nothing of a personal nature.
• Except for an initial and concluding handshake, there was no physical contact between us.
• In the second half of the session, the therapist briefly stated that he/she could help me and then proposed a set of ground rules for treatment.

Questionable-to-Unsound Answers: Reconsider Your Choice of Therapist

• He/she was angry.
• He/she was indifferent.
• He/she was seductive.
• He/she talked almost as much or more than I did.
• He/she asked a lot of questions, which broke my train of thought.
• He/she kept giving me his/her personal opinions and told me about his/her private life.
• He/she gave me specific advice on how to handle my problems.
• He/she asked me to lie down on the couch for the consultation hour.
• He/she tended toward nonsexual physical contact - such as giving my hand a reassuring pat when I was nervous and upset, etc.
• He/she didn't say anything about whether he/she could help me or what the ground rules of therapy would be.