Choosing a Psychologist is like choosing gelato
I remember going to a new Gelato store in my area. It had just opened, it had great marketing and people I knew were telling me “It’s the best gelato you’ll ever eat”. I lined up with my young son, he ordered a rainbow gelato and was loving it getting it all over his face. So far, the reviews were correct. I ordered choc mint flavour, had one bite and scrunched up my face. This was not the gelato for me.
“The best gelato I’ll ever eat was not for me”
What has this got to do with psychological treatment? A lot. Psychology Clinics and the Psychologists that work there provide a service. Some have great marketing and the majority help provide life-changing improvements to individuals lives. You may even hear your friend, partner or colleague tell you “They are the best Psychologist you’ll ever see!”. Just like me presenting to the gelato store with a need for choc mint gelato, the claim that any psychologist will be “the best you’ll ever see” will be true depending on what you actually need. Put simply, no psychologist is effective at treating every concern!
I’ve stated that I get effective outcome for a wide array of difficulties individuals face from depression and anxiety to body image and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, a look closer indicates not all effectiveness is created equal. I’m less interested in getting a badge of honour and more interested in finding out for which clients I am most effective. To find this out, I went back to my client’s outcomes and was surprised. While the number of cases is small and cannot be used as sweeping statements some things jumped out.
1) I get better outcomes for clients with certain difficulties and less effective outcomes for clients with other difficulties
2) I provide the most effective treatment for clients wanting support for obsessive compulsive disorder, panic attacks, substance use and depression
3) I provide less effective treatment for clients wanting support for relationship difficulties and body image
I’ve thought a lot about how to use this information to improve effectiveness with my clients. I will do more training in treating body image and relationship difficulties. In the mean time, I don’t believe in knocking back any individual wanting support, so if someone attended asking for help for relationship difficulties and body image that is what I would provide. However, I would be working with the client and closely monitoring their outcomes. Research indicates that improvements early in treatment are predictive of good client outcome. So, if treatment was not showing effective outcomes by the fourth session, I would seek consultation with a colleague on how the client and I can turn this around. If the treatment was not showing effective outcomes by 8 sessions, I would talk to the client about a referral to a specialist in relationship difficulties or body image to get the outcome they deserve. In fact, this approach would be true for any client that was not getting effective outcomes. The wellbeing of clients is priority and it is vital they achieve improvement in wellbeing in a timely and cost-efficient manner.
So, for any individual out there wanting to get treatment from a psychologist remember no psychologist is effective at treating every concern. Be willing to ask these two simple questions, 1) How many people have you treated with my difficulty? and 2) How effective are you with treating this difficulty?
Take care,
P.S. For those wanting to know, I later found out that the gelato was spearmint and choc flavour. I’ll be asking gelato stores in the future whether their “choc mint” flavour is made with spearmint from now on!
