Finding a psychologist in London can be difficult to achieve. There are many professional psychotherapists in London who also offer similar treatments as psychologists. Compounding this are the multitude of therapy styles out there.
Many of these styles can have professional sounding names without really offering any substance. The first step is to understand that if you are looking for mental health treatment such as a talking therapy, it doesn’t really matter if you see a psychologist or psychotherapist. Both can offer appropriate treatment.
Coming back to finding a psychologist in London: It’s more important to first note whether the psychologist you are looking for is accredited with the British Psychological Society and / or the Health Care Professions Council. The title of a Psychologist is a protected profession which means that it is regulated by the state.
It will therefore be easier to spot if a Psychologist has received appropriate training or not (compared to psychotherapists who aren’t regulated by the state).
For psychotherapy or counselling it is important to look for someone who is either qualified as a Counselling- or Clinical Psychologist, as the relevant training within these professions includes talking therapies.
The next step would be to see what kind of problems they specialise in and what kind of therapeutic style they use in order to treat those problems. As a rule of thumb it is also helpful to look for someone who specialises in a few things than compared to seeing a jack of all trades.
The style they specialise in should have some scientific backing in being effective at treating your problem. It also depends on how you want to address your problem.
Some want to talk about their relationship for example or process the past without having the explicit aim of lessening distress. In such a case scientific backing is less important than the therapeutic relationship.
So having a good connection with your psychologist would be important. A psychologist is also trained to offer psychometric tests which can help if you want to do something like an IQ test.
If you are distressed, you don’t want to be also worrying about not finding the right person to help. Therefore it is important to recognise some additional criteria before choosing the right therapist:
– For how long has the therapist being practising?
– Does the way they present themselves show you that you could build up a connection with them?
Some clients also wish for their therapist to be very close to where they work or live. Travelling an extra 20 minutes can definitely be worth it if the treatment is much better.
Receiving therapy can be a life changing event and appropriate care is justified when choosing the right psychologist. Above are some of the things to consider when thinking about a psychotherapist in London.
If you are finding the search intimidating, a matching service offered at Seekapsych can help you find a suitable professional which can aid in removing a lot of hassle and worry.
