Getting therapist recommendations...question

[disfan07]

I need to get some recommendations from my internist for therapists for recurrent anxiety issues that I am having.
My question is, for those of you who have gotten recommendations from your primary doc. for this, did you just call and ask them or did you actually make an appointmetn with them to talk to them about the recommendations?

I'm not sure which way to go about doing this. I'm not sure if it would be better to just call and leave a message that I need to talk to my doctor and ask over the phone or if I should make an appointment for this. I'm just curious as to how other people have or would do this.

 

[fitzy819]

I recently helped my mom find a therapist for similar issues. If you have insurance, I would recommend starting with talking to the insurance company or using their website and first finding Drs or therapists that are in-network, because sadly coverage like this is often very limited based on your insurance company. From there, my mother narrowed it down by office hours (my mom is a teacher and needed hours after school or on the weekends). This had things narrowed down significantly. From there she called a few offices and settled on one that was close and seemed friendly and she absolutely loves the therapist she is seeing now. Once you have a list of who is covered and fits your schedule you could call the dr and see who they would recommend.

I would personally not make an office visit unless the Dr refused to make a referral/recommendation over the phone because, for me, I would want any medication or therapy for anxiety done by a mental health professional and not by my general practice Dr. I have found that when going into the office to get a referral the general practice Dr will try "fix" the issue before they are willing to help me find someone who specializes in the field, only delaying treatment. So, I would much prefer an over-the-phone recommendation if possible so I can quickly find someone who specializes in what I need.

Hope that helps some and good luck!!!

 

[disfan07]

thanks. Luckily, we already know that our insurance covers everyone at the hospital where the rest of my doctors are which is good because I am very hesitant to go out of my comfort zone of that hospital.

Luckily, my internist does not try to fix anything that is not in her "realm" of fixing. Meaning....if it is a specialist issue, she has no problem at all giving me recommendations. She has deemed herself my "gatekeeper" for all of my other doctors which she takes very seriously. Basically, she is there for anything acute and she is also there to make sure that my other doctors are talking to her adn to each other about my treatment plans. I am defintiley leaning more towards getting over the phone recommendations form her. If not for any other reason than not having to pay the $20 copay to see her..haha

Thanks again!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I need to get some recommendations from my internist for therapists for recurrent anxiety issues that I am having.
My question is, for those of you who have gotten recommendations from your primary doc. for this, did you just call and ask them or did you actually make an appointmetn with them to talk to them about the recommendations?

I'm not sure which way to go about doing this. I'm not sure if it would be better to just call and leave a message that I need to talk to my doctor and ask over the phone or if I should make an appointment for this. I'm just curious as to how other people have or would do this.

I actually got a recommendation from a nurse in my dd's ped office for her. The doctor actually was not much help. I just talked to the nurse on the phone.

I asked the staff specifically for someone who they knew who treated anxiety and a nurse told me that she has her dd go to this therapist.

So, not sure how you should approach it. I would say that the recommendation needs to be based on the fact that they know someone who went there and are having good results and not just "name dropping" if that makes sense.

 

[Pembo]

I'd call the office. You are lucky that your insurance covers a lot of drs. Our choices were majorly limited by insurance. I chose the only one that my insurance would cover. Good luck and fwiw, my ds has anxiety issues and is doing very well on mes.

 

[Agri]

You can also call the doctor that you want to see and have them call your PC to get a referral for you. I've done that a couple of times as my old therapist changed groups a couple of times and they would take care of the referral for me as one of the groups she was with was not one that my doctor liked to refer people to.

If you need help finding someone in your area, try posting to a local forum for recommendations.

 

[mtemm]

this is where I went when I was looking for a therapist: http://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/

it worked out very well for me, I could find someone near me, and I could read a bit about them/link to their page. it helped me find someone who both specialized in what I was looking for, and who felt like a good fit for me. when dh was looking for someone he also went thru this site. might be something to check out.

good luck! finding a good fit in a therapist is so important!