Input on Therapy...

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If it works for you, keep going. If the benefit is there, keep going. What is important is what she does for you, not what others "opinions" are. You know what opinions are like, right?

I've been going to the same therapist for a couple years, maybe 3. I have anxiety, I'm sure I have alot of other issues but that's the general issue. In the last year I've really turned around, and things have clicked. I think. I feel that my life is a bit better.

However the therapist I use, for one, not alot of people like her, they won't go into much detail except, she's divorced and doesn't have her *kitten* together so why would you go to her?

I will admit, that we've come to an agreement on a lower fee, since I have to pay out of pocket and my insurance is stupid.

I hear people say things or make a face whne I mention her and I wonder. Well should I go somewhere else, everyother month, instead of every month and to pay what I'm paying now (what I can afford)

Should I really be in therapy for 3 years? Is that a sign somethings not right?

No.

Like certain physical conditions, mental disorders generally don't get "cured," they get "managed." Many people, when they feel like they've come far, will reduce sessions from one a week or one every two weeks to one a month, or even one every few months.

If you like your therapist and feel you benefit from her, keep going. Do your peers ALSO go to her, hence their opinion? Or are there reviews online?

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You've found a therapist you like.
You've made progress with said therapist.
You can afford her and have a payment plan figured out.

Why on earth would you switch?

People are going to find fault in anything you do, no matter what.
Don't listen to them if you like your therapist.

3 years is a long time to some, for others it's the tip of the iceberg.
No shame in being in therapy for 3 years or longer at all.

I've been going to the same therapist for a couple years, maybe 3. I have anxiety, I'm sure I have alot of other issues but that's the general issue. In the last year I've really turned around, and things have clicked. I think. I feel that my life is a bit better.

However the therapist I use, for one, not alot of people like her, they won't go into much detail except, she's divorced and doesn't have her *kitten* together so why would you go to her?

I will admit, that we've come to an agreement on a lower fee, since I have to pay out of pocket and my insurance is stupid.

I hear people say things or make a face whne I mention her and I wonder. Well should I go somewhere else, everyother month, instead of every month and to pay what I'm paying now (what I can afford)

Should I really be in therapy for 3 years? Is that a sign somethings not right?

No.

Like certain physical conditions, mental disorders generally don't get "cured," they get "managed." Many people, when they feel like they've come far, will reduce sessions from one a week or one every two weeks to one a month, or even one every few months.

If you like your therapist and feel you benefit from her, keep going. Do your peers ALSO go to her, hence their opinion? Or are there reviews online?

Just wanted to offer some input... I had been seeing the same therapist for 4 years. I initially went to him for PTSD after I had a major medical crisis. The PTSD was more or less managed after a year or so, but I kept seeing him because it was easier than trying to find someone new, even though my therapy needs had changed (dealing with anxiety and a neurological issue I was born with) and he wasn't really well-suited to helping me with those things. I also had some personal drama that came up, which hindered my progress with my PTSD and other issues, and while it may have been useful to have someone to professionally gripe to, I could just blog about it for free. :P I spent the last couple of years basically using that hour each week as a sounding board, and talking to myself to figure things out as to what I needed to do next. Which, I suppose that's good in its own right, but still, it was not all that helpful. I felt like he would always try to reassure me that I was a good person, instead of challenging me to do better at the things I was still struggling with and calling me out on my bullcrap. It took him saying something that really offended me this past summer to get me to start looking for a new therapist. (Not a matter of calling me out on anything - just something irrelevant and opinionated that really, really upset me, especially considering that I'd worked with him for 4 years.) I finally bit the bullet and started looking for a new therapist this fall, and ended up writing an email to a counseling agency in town, basically telling them what I was looking for and where I was coming from with regard to mental health history and therapy background. They placed me with someone who seems to be a pretty good fit so far.

Like others have said, I don't think there's a fixed time limit on how long therapy should go - it depends on if your goals and needs are being met. If things aren't improving for you after, say, 3-6 months, it's time to start looking for a new therapist. And if the goals you set have been met, and you don't have anything else you can be helped with by that particular therapist or their style of therapy, that would also be a good time to consider a change. Identifying and evaluating measurable goals is really important, and it's also important that your therapist doesn't become a "friend" in the sense that they don't just agree with everything you say because they think you're a nice person (even if you are a nice person!).

It takes how long it takes to excavate, accept and move on. Are therapists supposed to be perfect? If I were going to marriage therapy (which only has like a 16% success rate anyway) and my therapist was divorced I may question it lol. I have a lot of friends who are therapists and most of them are kooky! I would be too if I listened to other people's stuff all day.

There are a thousand ways to heal thyself. Who is to judge you on what works for you? That's why there are so many different books on self-help - What works for some doesn't work for others. I will tell you this though, therapy is most effective on people who are introspective, can accept reality, can forgive what needs forgiving, can change what needs changing, and live in the present. Some things are scary and hard to face and deal with. Do what works for YOU. Ignore the judgy-judgers.

If you feel it is still helping you, no, I do not feel three years is too long. However, I am curious as to the company you keep if everybody you know has an opinion on your therapist.

i agree. how does everyone know who your therapist is? i love mine...but i keep my therapy life private.

Same here! Well, sort of. I think my MFP friends know more about my therapy progress than my family. LMAO!!!

To the OP: Having grown up in a small town, sometimes people have nothing better to do than talk smack.
or start rumors. So I wouldn't take what "they" say too seriously.

Therapists are human just like the rest of us! Also, some "issues" cannot be cured - like a previous poster indicated it's about management & coping techniques.

Good luck!

its hard finding a therapist that works for you
so if she is working for you keep her

as someone who is just starting out trying to find one, this is a scary statement.