Has anyone been to a Catholic pschologist?

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I am debating going to see a Catholic psychologist. I have been to other psychologist/psychiatrists but never one that was Catholic or used the Catholic religion as part of their practice. I was wondering if any of you have ever seen a Catholic psychologist and how it went compared to the normal secular psychologist. God Bless.
 
Hi! I adore your picture of our blessed Pope! Thank you.

I did, we did, see a Catholic psycologist, and she was worse than others, I must say. I had much better luck with pastors from local churches than I did with her. She was unfeeling, and didn’t even mention her faith once. I was very disappointed.

Just because one is a Catholic dear friend does not mean they have love in their hearts, or the truth in their souls. Sadly.
 
I was considering it as I have seen other pschologists a few years ago and was not satisfied with the results, Now, since I am Catholic I thought that I would give this a shot.
 
I checked out that site and there is actually a therapist in my area. But, I am going about personal issues and not sure if they are specialized in that area or if they are more focused on couples therapy.
 
Yes I have and yes I am 🙂
She is GREAT and incorporates her faith into her Practice. She uses both the Faith and the Science/Process as needed depending on what my needs are based on her determination at that point in time.
If you are in the Pacific Northwest please contact me I will HIGHLY recommend her.
 
mkipp said:
I checked out that site and there is actually a therapist in my area. But, I am going about personal issues and not sure if they are specialized in that area or if they are more focused on couples therapy.
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Call and ask. At least in my state, family therapists (ie “couples” therapy) have as much or more eduation in individual therapies as the one-on-one therapists.

I’m in a graduate program, hoping to become a therapist who can put my faith into action in the therapy process, as appropriate. I agree with other posters who have said that some advertised “Catholic” therapists are just therapists who happen to call themselves Catholic. It’s totally dependant on the indivual professional as to how much faith plays a role in their work. I have to say that there are not many people of any sort of strong faith, period, in the psychology field. It is self-consciously secular, as a whole.

www.catholictherapists.com requires agreement with a statement of standards of their listed therapists. I know one of these therapists in my area and have heard that he’s very faithful.

Personally, I did therapy with a non-denominational Christian therapist and found it very helpful. I was on a heavy regimine of prayer and Eucharistic Adoration at the time, as well. I’d say each played a role in my healing.

If you are near IPS ipsciences.edu/, a very reputable Catholic graduate school for psychology, they may be able to lead you toward a list of therapists.
 
mkipp said:
I am debating going to see a Catholic psychologist. I have been to other psychologist/psychiatrists but never one that was Catholic or used the Catholic religion as part of their practice. I was wondering if any of you have ever seen a Catholic psychologist and how it went compared to the normal secular psychologist. God Bless.
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I live in South Carolina and how I wish I could find one!

I would definitely recommend seeing a Catholic one.
 
I have seen a few Catholic psychologists, after my dad died and in the process of applying to seminary. Generally I found very few who were actually good Catholics and good psychologists. 🤷 Then again, take my opinion with a grain of salt because I have little use for the psychiatric profession apart from extreme cases.
 
Years ago I was in the care of a Jewish psychiatrist and a Catholic therapist at the same time for a severe clinical depression. The Catholic therapist was good, but we didn’t really get into religion that much, but he was a very good therapist. The Jewish psychiatrist was fantastic, supported me in my spiritual efforts, encouraged me to continue in my religious practice, and was very careful about medication, explaining the effects to be expected, side effects, etc. I never felt overmedicated. He also obtained a careful health history. He never tried to force anything on me, or make me feel as if I were a less than an intelligent person incapable of making decisions about my care. He was always respectful of me, and as I said, supported me in my spirituality, although he did not give religious advice. And he was a good listener.

I think, that when choosing a therapist, the most important thing is their ability to listen and adapt their therapy to the person as an individual, rather than just using textbook techniques. They need to see you as an individual and support your values. Just being Catholic or a Catholic therapist does not guarantee you will get the best care, or that the therapist is the right one for you. Sometimes you have to look around.
 
mkipp said:
I am debating going to see a Catholic psychologist. I have been to other psychologist/psychiatrists but never one that was Catholic or used the Catholic religion as part of their practice. I was wondering if any of you have ever seen a Catholic psychologist and how it went compared to the normal secular psychologist. God Bless.
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Saw a Christian therapist referred by Catholic Charities, and she was wonderful! She knew Catholic teachings and was able to counsel extremely well accordingly. I can’t stress enough what a terrific resource Catholic Charities is - no matter what your income level or what you might need them for - referrals, advice, you name it.
God’s blessings to you as you explore the choices.
 
I did telephone counseling with the Pastoral Solutions Institute exceptionalmarriages.com/ and I was really pleased. I had personal issues I was working through and I felt that my therapist gave me excellent guidance with a continual thread of faith throughout our discussions. She was right-on with both the therapy and spiritual side of things. I would highly recommend them and if I ever need help again I would go back in a heartbeat.

Hope this helps!
Traci
 
Traci said:
I did telephone counseling with the Pastoral Solutions Institute exceptionalmarriages.com/ and I was really pleased. I had personal issues I was working through and I felt that my therapist gave me excellent guidance with a continual thread of faith throughout our discussions. She was right-on with both the therapy and spiritual side of things. I would highly recommend them and if I ever need help again I would go back in a heartbeat.

Hope this helps!
Traci
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I’ve bookmarked your link. Thank you! 🙂
 
Monica, thank you for the therapist website you referred us to. It is good to have it in case it is needed in the future for me or some of my family members or friends.

I have had several different therapists for many years. My problems were mostly about my Mom who enjoyed controling me and messing up my life for many years.
I finally was able to stop her from verbally abusing me.

My most recent therapist is Protestant and she is great but when I decided to get a Catholic annulment I had to educate her on my religion in order for her to write a letter to the Tribunal Office stating my annulment case.
The Catholic Tribunal did approve my annulment recently. But if I had to do it over again I would have gotten a Catholic therapist because they already know the Catholic faith.

Since I have experience with therapists… my advise is when you don’t like a therapist you need to not go back to them. Something inside of you says…“This therapist is not for me”.
I had to let go of two therapist. One therapist was okay for the first session but in the second session she must have said something I didn’t like so I never went back to see her.

Another therapist totally turned me off when SHE DECIDED I needed to work on improving my relationships with relatives. At that time I had a more important problem that I needed advise on and needed to deal with it. So I didn’t see her again.

I called her up the next day and I told her she was not for me as a therapist. She didn’t even charge my insurance for the time I spent with her on that one day.

I think that if you are having spiritual issues you may want to see a Catholic therapist.
For example; One day a college student told me she had an abortion and felt real guilty.
Since I am Catholic I advised her to get it off her chest and see a priest for confession.
She came back to see me and she said she did go for confession but she still felt very guilty.
I advised her that God has forgiven her and to not keep on punishing herself.
That student needed therapy from a Catholic therapist so she could let go of her guilt.

I truly believe that a lot of people need therapy to help improve their lives.

I also think that priests are great in confession too because they always give me good advise too. Sometimes priests are not in a good mood or not feeling well so they just say to pray.

One priest said that he has never been married so it was really hard to give married people advise on how to deal with eachother.
I think that when we have a serious problem we should see a therapist to help us.
It is not fair to our priests to keep going over and over again with the same problem.
 
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