Some Questions About Therapy
Hello Everyone,
I hope you're feeling good today. So, I've been considering talking to a therapist lately. But there are a few things I would like to know first.
1. From the information I found, the therapist will only reply to our message once or twice a day. Is there any possibility of setting a schedule to have a live chat with a therapist?
2. I see that the conversation with listeners will eventually disappear. Is this the same with therapists? Will I not be able to see my earlier conversation with the therapist? What if there's valuable information I'd like to look back into at a later time?
3. I'm currently on a very tight budget. If I really get into therapy, I most likely could only afford it for a week. Once I no longer subscribe to the program, will I still have access to the conversation I once had with the therapist?
Also, I've never done anything like this. Talk about my problems with someone when they still bother me. I'm considering talking to a therapist because I'm still unable to talk about my problem to any listeners. I also have an unpleasant experience with a listener that makes it even harder for me to open up.
I would appreciate it if someone would share a bit about your experience with the therapy. Are the therapists responsive? Do they make it easy for you to open up even about things you've never talked about to anyone before? Do you feel better after talking to a therapist? How long did it take you to feel better and have more clarity about your situation after talking to the therapist? I know the answer to these could be different from one to another. I just wanna get a picture of what it's like.
I would really appreciate it if any of you can answer these questions or share your experience.
@Litepanda I am not an expert, but as far as I know:
1. That's correct. A 7 Cups therapist replies at most once or twice every weekday. The contract with 7 Cups does not include live chats.
2. 7 Cups retains the last 40 messages of any chat, for a year. The other messages are not retained by 7 Cups, but you could copy and paste them somewhere else to refer to them later.
3. Do you really mean a week? You pay 7 Cups for a month of therapy at a time. I don't know whether you lose access to the last 40 messages after your subscription ends.
Listeners: It's very disappointing that you've been unable to chat about your problems with any listeners. I hope you reported the listener you had an unpleasant experience with. If you haven't already, you can report them here: Submit a request. It may be worth checking listeners' reviews through the Browse Listeners page to ensure you get an experienced listener who is easy to talk to, and who has a Chat Now button.
Therapists: You can also check therapists' reviews through the Search Therapists page. The reviews do indicate that 7 Cups therapists are responsive and easy to open up to. It's likely that bad reviews are censored, however. Also, one of the therapists I see listed there is deceased, and has been for some considerable time, so I'm not sure how much trust to have in the listings.
In general, based on conversations with therapists in real life, therapy can take between one session and several years. Some people feel worse before feeling better, especially if painful memories are recalled. So there is no typical picture of what it is like.
Charlie
@RarelyCharlie
Thanks for your reply. Oh, it seems that I was mistaken. The other day when I tried to look at the therapy page in a glance, I saw $37.50/week on the payment information page, and I thought there were options for weekly and monthly. I didn't realize that it billed monthly.
About the listener I had an unpleasant experience with. Thanks for the suggestion, but I have no intention of reporting him. He's not a bad listener. I checked his profile before initiating a conversation. He has a perfect rating. And he's actually easy to talk to. But as our conversation progressed, he became more and more judgmental and, at some point, just became distant.
I felt so upset about it that I tried to stay away from 7Cups for a few days. I even stayed away from my phone and turned it off most of the days because I felt so troubled. I've been thinking about it, and I supposed it was because he was exhibiting similar behavior to someone I'm in a complicated situation with.
And that time, I had to accept that people can treat us badly even when we do nothing bad. I mean, I already know that, but this is in a different context. And the way he was behaving after certain conversations, how he judged me easily when he barely knew anything, and the way I responded to that situation made me realize something. That the person I hold so dearly to my heart treated me like how a stranger treated me and how I would treat a stranger. I guess that's what made me feel very unsettled.
That was probably partly my fault too. Because in the beginning, I told him I would rather talk more like friends. Because I don't feel comfortable if I'm being treated like a troubled person. I was expecting a more relaxed conversation.
But I guess he got too comfortable and forgot that, just like everyone else here, I came here because something wrong is going on in my life, and I'm not in a position where I can handle judgment very well. I probably will let him know how I felt about our conversation and how he treated me when I feel better about my situation later on. He's quite open-minded, so maybe he would reflect on it.
I see... These past few years, I've been contemplating and reflecting a lot about something and how other things in my life might have impact on it, and how all those also impact my life afterward. There are thoughts that I've been exploring and revisiting multiple times. There are feelings that I've been intermittently experiencing. I've also seen how the situation I was in took part in how I responded to each thought and feeling that emerged. And gradually, I got a better understanding of it all.
But I'm still unable to talk about it all. I just want to talk to someone who can see the bigger picture of everything and not just assess my situation in parts. I would like to know their view about it as I believe that if I can talk to the right person, it can help me feel more at peace with all the unfortunate things that ever happened to me and help me move forward in what I really want to do.
Anyway, I guess therapy is not an option for me now. I got to figure something else out. Thank you so much for your response. I really appreciate it.
Hi @litepanda. Sorry for the late reply as was away this weekend. Thanks Charlie for your reply.
I am sorry you have had challenges with a listener. Some listeners are better at some topics than others.
Here are Frequenty Asked questions and answers by therapists. https://www.7cups.com/forum/7CupsOnlineTherapy_157/FAQfrequentlyaskedquestionsabout7cupsOnlineTherapy_2181/
You might get an idea about what a therapist response is like in these replies to member questions by therapists https://www.7cups.com/forum/7CupsOnlineTherapy_157/AMAwiththe7CupsTherapists_1133/
If you wish other suggestions, you can message me www.7cups.com/@soulsings and I may have other suggestions for you.
soulsings
It’s great that you are here! :) Welcome. Thank you for your interest in 7 Cups online therapy and also joining the sub-community. We hope you receive the support that you need and you are able to try another listener if you feel like you may be better supported to another.
We keep the listings as up to date as possible on 7 Cups and some therapists are directory online therapists who are not currently providing online therapy. This is indicated during the search option on the page to search for a therapist. If there are any issues that may have been picked up please email support@7cups.com and we will ensure the information is updated.