Choosing the right therapist

Compassion, patience and respect for my boundaries. Also seeing my journey to recover from OCD as our joint journey. I had a lot of different therapists through out my life and it took me 25 years to find a good therapist. It might have to do with how therapists are educated in my country, but their approach never worked for me. My therapists from the US (Manhatten CBT) and Canada (NOCD) had been amazing and everything I needed in a therapist to win battles in my war with OCD.

Definitely compassion, kindness, patience, and working with me as a team.

Empathy. Understanding of the clinical and physiological components of how OCD presents in our bodies, and an ability to explain why compulsions worsen OCD. Compassion.

Compassion, empathy and patience are so important in this journey. I also want someone that will challenge me to push myself to always try and I have that in my therapist.

Years of experience with OCD. Stay at the job for more than a year so the patient doesn’t have to keep changing therapists every few months. Constantly starting over and getting nowhere.

Trying to understand my perspective but also being realistic and honest when necessary

Curiosity, a sense of humor, non-judgement, light-heartedness, hopefulness, the ability to motivate & celebrate, and a whole lot of empathy!

Empathy and being non-judgmental. I deal with some dark, shameful, and embarrassing thoughts/images, so to feel comfortable enough to share this with a therapist who I know is not going to judge me or look at me with disgust means everything to me. It makes me feel a little more “normal” and that I don’t need to be fearful of these thoughts and images.

Someone that truly cares

In my view, some of the most important qualities in a therapist are their understanding of mindfulness, meditation, and acceptance-based therapies. These approaches are incredibly helpful for managing OCD and promoting long-term mental well-being. Another aspect that’s often overlooked is the ability to support patients in improving their physical and nutritional habits. I believe that paying attention to these areas can significantly reduce OCD symptoms, as lifestyle factors play a crucial role in mental healt.

being able to see where im coming from and that im not just crazy.

Definitely knowledge of ERP and OCD and they know that you can’t just journal and breathe the ocd away 😭

EDUCATION

Empathy and patience - I’ve found the most important qualities in a therapist are their ability to, a) understand your life context from their own lived experiences and b) ability to listen, be curious, and take the small steps with you as you come to grasp your own thought patterns, fears, and compulsions.

good listening skills

Someone who is knowledgeable and will be kind but firm. Will guide you, and develop a dialogue with you. Mad respect to therapists! Y’all are so very needed, and often under appreciated.

understanding my recovery goals

giving me things to do to help me accomplish goals.

• Empathy • Understanding • Sincerity • Passion to help others

Understanding me, compassion, patience, know how to push or guide me the right way with respect.

Personally, I think a therapist should be empathetic, understanding, caring, and kind. I think they should also give constructive criticism, but in a nice way to help improve the person in need. But if the criticism goes too far, the person could start losing confidence. I think that they should also be fun and cheerful so that people can feel like they are in a safe and happy place to tell secrets.But to make that even better, they can do fun activities related to the subject that they are working with.

Compassion and understanding, being open to being wrong and learning something new while also being knowlegdable