The Best Type of Therapist for Anxiety

Knowing the professional details about your therapist is important when making decisions about your treatment for anxiety.  

An Anxiety Therapist’s Training and Specialty

All licensed psychotherapists (professional counselors, psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists) have worked tirelessly at the graduate level (practicing therapists have at least a Master’s degree in the subject).  

 They have endured hours of reading and writing, in addition to Practicum hours (closely supervised and observed therapy sessions with real clients) and Internship hours (less closely supervised and observed, but still highly scrutinized therapy sessions with real clients).

 Additionally, most therapists are required by their licensing boards to have Continuing Education (CE) at each license renewal (every 2 or 3 years).  These CE’s are aimed at keeping even the most seasoned therapists’ in the loop on recent research, practices and trends in psychotherapy.  

 All licensed therapists should have received adequate training and experience in treating anxiety.  It’s definitely part of the basic training.  

So is there really a type of therapist that is best for treating anxiety?

Let’s take a look at some of the factors and criteria that help you decide what is the best type of therapist to treat anxiety.

General Practitioner or Expert?

So, when it comes to finding the best type of therapist for anxiety, you might want to consider if you are going to choose a general practitioner, or an expert.  Think of it like this- if you have a heart problem, are you going to stick exclusively with your family doctor, or are you going to a heart specialist?

 Some therapists prefer to remain general practitioners.  That’s perfectly acceptable for a lot of people, because there is more to finding the right therapist than just finding the best, most awesome, high achieving expert.  It’s a complex and layered issue, this ‘finding the right therapist’ thing.

 Some therapists, for a variety of reasons, prefer to become that best, most awesome, high achieving expert.  These therapists will market themselves as such- an expert in anxiety, or a specialist in treating anxiety.  If you’re looking for the type of therapist best for anxiety, you might want to find an expert.

A Therapist’s Skill-Set and  Experience

So what makes an expert in treating anxiety?  That’s easy.  Skill-sets and experience.  Any expert in anything will have received training above and beyond their so-called basic training.  In the world of psychotherapy, basic training is the Master’s degree, the practicum and the internship. 

 If you’re looking for an expert, the therapist will likely make it clear that they’ve completed additional trainings to help them develop a skill-set (such as EMDR, CBT, DBT, IFS or ACT- there’s a really huge list).  The therapist should also include where they got this training. 

 As you can imagine, there are reputable and not-so-reputable places to acquire these trainings and certificates.  It’s a good idea to give at least a cursory Google search about the institutes or agencies that provided the “skill-set” training.

Evidence-Based Therapy?

You may have heard of evidence-based therapies.  These are simply modalities (types) of psychotherapy that have been tested through specific sets of standards.  Measured outcomes.  Data.  

 You know, the stuff we never think about when we’re sitting in front of mostly-a-stranger, spilling our guts in a state of near-naked vulnerability.  

 While we do need measurable data (answers to questions like ‘is this working’?), it’s important to know that data is just that…data.  It’s often absent of context, and according to this post-modern mind, it’s flawed because it’s gathered, aggregated and reported by people. 

 And people are flawed.

I’ve used a lot of “Evidence-Based Therapy” in my 10 years as a therapist and frankly, the criteria leaves out A LOT.  The human element of it all is completely omitted in this research and reporting.

Simply, I take the label with a grain of salt.  I don’t dismiss it.  I just…question it.

Your Anxiety and Your Preferences

Because “therapy” is pretty vague in definition and can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, you’re going to have a lot of choices.  

 You can choose the type of person (sex, gender, race, religion, etc) your therapist is.  You can choose based on their level of education, their advanced trainings or lack of advanced trainings.  You can choose because they happen to accept your insurance (although, I don’t recommend such flippant choosing).

 My point is this-  You can find a therapist who checks all of your ‘boxes’ and then come to find they really irritate the shit out of you anyway. 

Your Past Experiences in Therapy

One of the most important considerations is if you’ve had therapy in the past.  What did you like about it? What did you hate?  

Did your therapist talk about himself a lot?  

Did your therapist never make facial expressions?  

Was your therapist too direct with feedback or not direct enough?

 These are the questions you should be  seeking to answer before you settle on your new therapist.  Maybe you’ve already tried CBT and it was like forcing a square peg in a round hole.  It’s just not for you.  

 Obviously, then, you wont settle on a therapist committed to using CBT. 

Types of Therapy Available for Anxiety

The most referred to “Evidence Based Therapy” for anxiety is probably going to be CBT- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.  You could also use REBT- Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy.  You could use Somatic Experiencing.  

 Internal Family Systems.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.

Psychoanalytic.

Psychodynamic.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

You see my point here?  There’s no way any one person is going to research the innumerable modalities and then interview all the therapists that use them.

So how does one decide what will be best?

What To Expect from Therapy

You start by having an interview with your potential therapist.  You share with them what you’re experiencing and let them tell you how they would approach that.  

 Ask this potential therapist if they’ve ever helped someone with thoughts like yours.  

 What can you expect from therapy?  Ideally, it’s an authentic, dynamic and natural conversation about what’s working and what’s not working.  Most importantly, it’s always, ALWAYS, always about you.    

Your comfort, your safety, your outcomes.  

 Finding the Right Therapist For You

So much to consider here, right?  It’s bit overwhelming.  

 All of that being said, I can’t tell you how many people choose their new therapist based on the therapist’s website pictures.  

Can you believe that? (I can.  I’ve 100% done it).  With the amount of time, effort, pain and money we spend on therapy-  It’s often as simple as the picture.   

OK- but let’s assume you’re still here reading because you have an interest in going beyond the picture.  What have we covered so far?

1.     This person is an expert in my need (anxiety)

2.     This person demonstrates that expertise by sharing their advanced skill-sets in treating anxiety and can highlight how they have tons and tons of experience working with this type of thing.

3.     The skill-set (modality) they use seems tolerable to me.  Or, maybe, even, it  REALLY speaks to me.

a.     A little personal experience here.  I give all potential clients a very clear description and example of what it’s like to work with my skill-set (IFS).  Some people can’t contain their excitement because it makes SO MUCH SENSE to them.   Others, however, can hardly contain their discomfort and desire to end the call with me as soon as possible.  Because to them, IFS just doesn’t fit the way their minds work.  

4.     Is this person going to be a good personality fit (how direct they are, how much they self-disclose, how much they laugh in session, if they cuss or don’t cuss, etc.).

 Aside from these 4 important points, I think the next 2 are really crucial, practical boxes that must be checked.  

You Have to Like Your Therapist

It’s kind of as simple as that.  I once had a phone consultation with a potential therapist (I was looking for a therapist at the time), and for the love of God I could not stand the way she talked.  The inflection in her voice and the way she shaped her sentences made me cringe.  

 She would never be a good therapist for me.  It doesn’t mean she’s not an amazing therapist.  I’m sure she gets an abundance of clients that don’t even notice the way she talks.         

But for me?  No. 

This has to be someone you can like.  Someone you can enjoy sitting face-to-face with for 55 minutes every week (and eventually every other week) for maybe up to 2 or 3 years (depending on what you have to work on).  

Therapy Can’t Be a Major Inconvenience

 Can you drive an hour each way to meet with this therapist?  If so, cool.  If not, that’s kind of a deal-breaker.  

 I don’t think therapy is ever super convenient for any of us (by nature, it’s kind of designed to be uncomfortable).  But the practicality has to be there.  

 Are you able to go in to work an hour late every Tuesday?  Or take an extended lunch every Thursday?  Yes? Awesome.  No?  Again, kind of a deal-breaker.  The timing has to match up.  

 Finally, therapy isn’t “cheap”.  It’s an investment.  Most of us have to make some adjustments in our lifestyles to afford the right therapist. 

 My therapist didn’t take my insurance and I stopped going out to restaurants to afford him.  It was just worth it to me.  

 Sometimes, no matter how much maneuvering we do, we still can’t make the numbers work and need to find someone at a lower price point.  

Most Therapists Can Be Flexible in Treating Anxiety 

You have a lot of choices and considerations.  One piece of good news is this: most therapists are going to be able to be flexible enough to meet your needs. Yes, there are some deal-breakers and some people, depending on their reasons for finding a therapist, will have more specific needs than others.

Next piece of good news: Know that it’s not permanent.  Any good therapist will be wiling to hear that you feel it’s not the right fit.  Part of your therapist’s job is to make sure you are within their scope of practice, and that you are trusting them enough to do the work.

Interested in Finding the Right Therapist for Your Anxiety?

Schedule your phone consultation with the therapist who specializes in what your struggling with. Each of our clinicians specializes in anxiety, and has sub-specialities, as well. They are each trained with a trauma-specific skill-set that goes above and beyond the basic training.

Jessica Bennett, MA, LPC, CAADC is the Founder of Collaborative: Psychotherapy & Self-Discovery in Troy, Michigan. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor & Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor who has completed Levels 1 & 2 IFS Training through the IFS Institute. Jessica specializes in treating young and aspiring professionals who wish to fully heal from trauma and anxiety.