Therapists are SO expensive, need advice!

[Anonymous]

Whatever you do, don't get the meds/psychiatric route!

A therapist would be more than enough for social anxiety. My DC has been seeing one for about 1 year and the change is unbelievable!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I'm not a huge fan of Dr. Phil, he & his son created an app called "Doctor on Demand" & you can Skype/ Facetime with every type & variety of doctors, including children's therapy.
They can prescribe medication too (not schedule 2, of course)

The first session is free, not sure after that but I know that it's much more affordable than the stereotypical doctors, however all of the doctors are licensed, bonded & very professional.

This could be a great alternative & it's done right from home!

+1

This is a great idea.
I have a friend who started using Doctor on Demand when she was on a temporary work assignment in another state. She liked it so much she never went back to her old psychologist who she'd been with for at least 10 years.

Additionally, having the option to your talk through your sessions directly from the comfort of your own couch is a major benefit.

[Anonymous]

I feel you, OP. My son has anxiety, depression, and ADHD, and he's been unable to finish college because of his mental health issues. Right now we pay out of pocket to the tune of $250/week, and our insurance won't reimburse any of it. Luckily the therapist is excellent, but I often ponder how unfair it is that only people with money can afford appropriate mental health care. I hope you find a workable solution.

[Anonymous]

Get new insurance. Cut back everywhere else. It is essential that your kid gets help. Paying fir treatment later in life is going to be much more expensive if it involves rehab because he starts self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. Reach out to your county’s social services site and to any nearby universities. There is help, although it shouldn’t be so hard to find. This should be a priority right after housing and food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whatever you do, don't get the meds/psychiatric route!

A therapist would be more than enough for social anxiety. My DC has been seeing one for about 1 year and the change is unbelievable!

It’s really impossible to say that based on an internet post. My DS’s social anxiety was so bad he missed an entire year of high school. Yes, sometimes medication is necessary.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, I don't know where you live, but this place in Dupont Circle offers a lower cost option others have mentioned, with therapists in training (generally doctoral students) who are supervised by experienced psychologists and psychiatrists.

http://cognitivetherapydc.com

Good luck, and I hope you find the help you need for your son. This is a tough situation.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I am so grateful for all these great responses!!

I reached out to a therapist my son had seen a handful of times last year to see if she had any suggestions. Turns out she is sliding her fee a bit for us for a while, so we are gonna start with that!

Thanks all! I am definitely keeping all these suggestions for the future!

[Anonymous]

I’m not convinced therapy does much. How does talking to someone really change your brain? Would you go to a cardiologist to discuss heat disease and think talking will help?

[Anonymous]

Hi, OP. Psychologist here.. I moved out of the DC area a couple of years ago and so did most of my referral sources.

I highly recommend looking at universities that have doctoral programs in clinical and/or counseling psychology. These are students working on their doctorates; they are really highly supervised. They also are up to date on the most recent research and don't typically do whatever strikes their fancy-- they typically go by what research says. For social anxiety you absolutely should be looking at cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) which can take many forms. They may call it social skills training, or exposure, or graded exposure, but its all CBT. Just say, "I'm looking for CBT for social anxiety for my XX year old son." They usually operate on a sliding scale and most of my clients paid $0, the max was $80/session (granted this was ~5 years ago). Off the top of my head I know that these universities have doctoral programs. Try googling university name + psychology clinic:

University of Maryland College Park (and actually UM -Baltimore County too)
Catholic University
American University
George Washington University
George Mason University
James Madison University
Gallaudet University
(I generally advise against The Chicago School or Argosy University... Howard *counseling* has unimpressive outcomes too but Howard *clinical* may be okay)

I hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi, OP. Psychologist here.. I moved out of the DC area a couple of years ago and so did most of my referral sources.

I highly recommend looking at universities that have doctoral programs in clinical and/or counseling psychology. These are students working on their doctorates; they are really highly supervised. They also are up to date on the most recent research and don't typically do whatever strikes their fancy-- they typically go by what research says. For social anxiety you absolutely should be looking at cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) which can take many forms. They may call it social skills training, or exposure, or graded exposure, but its all CBT. Just say, "I'm looking for CBT for social anxiety for my XX year old son." They usually operate on a sliding scale and most of my clients paid $0, the max was $80/session (granted this was ~5 years ago). Off the top of my head I know that these universities have doctoral programs. Try googling university name + psychology clinic:

University of Maryland College Park (and actually UM -Baltimore County too)
Catholic University
American University
George Washington University
George Mason University
James Madison University
Gallaudet University
(I generally advise against The Chicago School or Argosy University... Howard *counseling* has unimpressive outcomes too but Howard *clinical* may be okay)

I hope this helps!

May I ask why you advise against Argosy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I am so grateful for all these great responses!!

I reached out to a therapist my son had seen a handful of times last year to see if she had any suggestions. Turns out she is sliding her fee a bit for us for a while, so we are gonna start with that!

Thanks all! I am definitely keeping all these suggestions for the future!

Also keep in mind that most therapists want to help. So ask for part of each session be to teach you how to help your child. A lot of what they do is fairly repetitive in nature. So you may be able to go once a month and then longer periods in between if you know what to do. Also ask for book recommendations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi, OP. Psychologist here.. I moved out of the DC area a couple of years ago and so did most of my referral sources.

I highly recommend looking at universities that have doctoral programs in clinical and/or counseling psychology. These are students working on their doctorates; they are really highly supervised. They also are up to date on the most recent research and don't typically do whatever strikes their fancy-- they typically go by what research says. For social anxiety you absolutely should be looking at cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) which can take many forms. They may call it social skills training, or exposure, or graded exposure, but its all CBT. Just say, "I'm looking for CBT for social anxiety for my XX year old son." They usually operate on a sliding scale and most of my clients paid $0, the max was $80/session (granted this was ~5 years ago). Off the top of my head I know that these universities have doctoral programs. Try googling university name + psychology clinic:

University of Maryland College Park (and actually UM -Baltimore County too)
Catholic University
American University
George Washington University
George Mason University
James Madison University
Gallaudet University
(I generally advise against The Chicago School or Argosy University... Howard *counseling* has unimpressive outcomes too but Howard *clinical* may be okay)

I hope this helps!

May I ask why you advise against Argosy?

It's a complex issue difficult to summarize briefly, but generally too large of class sizes (less intense mentorship and supervision), very poor ACCREDITED internship match rates (<50%, I advise my students to exclude applying to programs where the *accredited* match rate is <85% with very few exceptions), and a national licensure exam pass rate of about 65% (most good programs don't deviate much from 90%+ with many years of 100%). I'd be remiss to say that you cannot find a good psychologist that is an Argosy grad-- to be sure, they exist-- but there is too much variability in quality for me to recommend them in good faith.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whatever you do, don't get the meds/psychiatric route!

A therapist would be more than enough for social anxiety. My DC has been seeing one for about 1 year and the change is unbelievable!

It’s really impossible to say that based on an internet post. My DS’s social anxiety was so bad he missed an entire year of high school. Yes, sometimes medication is necessary.

This. There are people unable to truly respond to and benefit from therapy without meds. There are kids who cannot function at school without seeing the counselor several times a week and seeing a therapist once or twice a week in addition to that. It's a matter of degree of impairment and in some case the level of suffering is so severe it would be cruel not to try medicine with the therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi, OP. Psychologist here.. I moved out of the DC area a couple of years ago and so did most of my referral sources.

I highly recommend looking at universities that have doctoral programs in clinical and/or counseling psychology. These are students working on their doctorates; they are really highly supervised. They also are up to date on the most recent research and don't typically do whatever strikes their fancy-- they typically go by what research says. For social anxiety you absolutely should be looking at cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) which can take many forms. They may call it social skills training, or exposure, or graded exposure, but its all CBT. Just say, "I'm looking for CBT for social anxiety for my XX year old son." They usually operate on a sliding scale and most of my clients paid $0, the max was $80/session (granted this was ~5 years ago). Off the top of my head I know that these universities have doctoral programs. Try googling university name + psychology clinic:

University of Maryland College Park (and actually UM -Baltimore County too)
Catholic University
American University
George Washington University
George Mason University
James Madison University
Gallaudet University
(I generally advise against The Chicago School or Argosy University... Howard *counseling* has unimpressive outcomes too but Howard *clinical* may be okay)

I hope this helps!

OP here - thanks, this is incredible helpful!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not convinced therapy does much. How does talking to someone really change your brain? Would you go to a cardiologist to discuss heat disease and think talking will help?

Np: are you serious? If you have had no experience with therapy then you shouldn’t post. My son is 12 and suffers from anxiety and his therapist was a tremendous help. He’s not seeing anyone now (learned ways to manage it in therapy), but knows he can meet with her again should he need it. I was so happy to read that the OP is able to resume therapy for her child and hope the suggestions others made help someone else in need.