Help, can I email new therapists back for a consultation even though it's been a month since their response?
Hi,
So, I need therapy. I know I've needed therapy for over a year now. I've been out of therapy for about 2 years despite having significant psychiatric issues (including social anxiety), and recently I've just been down bad. Not the worst in my life, but probably the second or third worst mental state I've been in.
As any American trying to enter (or re-enter, in my case) the psychiatric system would do, I went on Psychology Today and found some therapists. I had a few video chats with my college's counseling, who understood my need for long-term therapy and offered to help me send some emails while on video call with them. I emailled about 4(?) therapists--two of them called my number which was scary, wish I didn't put my number in because they might've mistaken me as having a preference for getting sudden voicemails from numbers I don't recognize. I don't think I have the confidence at the moment to call them back. The other two emailled me, and I got too anxious to respond back.
I feel a bit bad for not being able to respond, I was near the end of my college semester at the time and I kept putting it off because I was nervous and busy--but I do want and need to go to therapy. However, I'm really worried that taking a long time to be able to respond would reflect badly on me as a client...? The client-therapist relationship is technically a professional one, and it's extremely unprofessional of me to not respond in a timely manner... It probably makes me look lazy or like I don't really care or want to put the effort in, right? However, the paradox of it is the reason why I couldn't respond is one of the reasons why I need therapy, so it's hard to figure out what I should do @_@
So, is it still okay to email people these people back even though it's been a long time, or will they like, get mad at me?
(Please don't advertise 7Cups services to me; I have very specific needs and I need to talk to someone face-to-face)
@ignister I'd say the therapists I know (in real life, not on 7 Cups) wouldn't care about the delay.
If you had some kind of assessment, then a very long delay might mean you'd have to be assessed again in case things had changed, but a month is not even long enough for that.
So I'm sure you can email them back. I'm absolutely certain they will not get mad at you.
Charlie
@ignister I think any good therapist would be understanding! Many people feel nervous about therapy so put it off. People also get busy, have draining things to deal with, etc. I spend a fair bit of time in medical clinics and in waiting rooms I often hear staff trying to get ahold of people who have dropped off, I can't imagine therapy being any better!
