Q1 "Who are psychotherapists?"

In US, psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed clinical social workers and marriage and family therapists can be called "psychotherapists." Psychiatrists are medical doctors specializing in psychiatry and they are the only professionals among this group who can prescribe medications. For psychologists, there are two different titles, Ph.D and Psy. D. Ph.D. stands for doctorate degree in philosophy and Psy.D. is a doctorate degree in psychology. What makes a Ph.D. and Psy.D. different from the other psychotherapists is that they are trained to conduct psychological testing as part of their evaluation. LCSW is the abbreviation for a licensed clinical social worker and MFT is for marriage and family therapist. LCSW and MFT are Master's level professionals.

All of these professionals, regardless of whether or not they have a doctorate degree or master degree, have had a minimum of 2 years of post-graduate supervised field work prior to taking their state exams. In order to be licensed and practice independently, they all had to pass two separate state exams. Through the course of their training, these four groups of mental health providers have been trained to provide psychotherapy. It is ultimately up to you to decide which specific psychotherapists meet your specific needs.

Q2 "What is psychotherapy?"

When people face obstacles in their life, they often experience symptoms like the following:

1. Being confused
2. Not being able to manage their own feelings
3. Having a difficulty organizing thoughts and/or stopping negative thoughts
4. Not knowing how to solve the problems
5. Being unable to make decisions and/or feeling stuck
6. Feeling vulnerable and lonely
7. Having somatic symptoms, including fatigue, disturbed sleep, and diminished appetite

Psychotherapists are professional listeners. They not only listen to you with full attention, but also guide you toward your own solutions. One way to accomplish this is by asking well thought out questions. These questions are used as tools to guide you to explore yourself and your situations as well as possible answers to your problem. It has been proven in many cases that obstacles are overcome more effectively and quickly when utilizing professional services.

For children and adolescents who may have limited communication skills, I often use sand tray, games, art and music, in addition to standard listening techniques (for office visit only).

Q3 "Is psychotherapy really effective?"

Psychotherapists cannot guarantee any results of therapy for multiple reasons. First, therapy can be effective only if both client and therapist work collaboratively. Your commitment to therapeutic process is critical for any positive therapy outcome. Second, there are many factors that can impact the therapy process. These factors can be, but not limited to, nature of presenting problems, client's personality, and client-therapist compatibility. The progress of therapy is very much dependant of these factors.

Although there is no absolute guarantee, many people have had positive experiences with psychotherapy. The followings are possible outcomes of psychotherapy:

1. Better understanding oneself and situation
2. Having a clear mind by organizing and clarifying own thoughts
3. Finding satisfying answers and making better decisions
4. Overcoming negative thoughts
5. Experiencing fewer physical symptoms
6. Gaining confidence in oneself
7. Enjoying life more and feeling happier
8. Improving relationships with people around oneself

It is also psychotherapist's job to work with you to develop an appropriate goal for the therapeutic process. Once the process starts, achieving the goal becomes a mutual purpose of therapist-client relationship.

Q4 "How long do I need to stay in therapy to see some results?"

The length of therapy varies and can be influenced by different factors. These factors include your presenting problem, duration & severity of the problem, motivation level, and therapist's skills & approaches. Most importantly, your goal of the therapeutic process (what you would like to achieve in therapy) determines the duration of therapy. For example, I had a client who was having a difficulty making a decision if he should take a new job offer or stay at his current job. With only 3 sessions, he was able to organize his thoughts and clarify his career path to make the best decision for himself. There was another case where the clients wanted to resolve their marital problems. Due to the nature of the couple's problems and the duration of their problems (10 years), they required meeting 2 times a week for 6 months. It is not uncommon for severe cases to require weekly sessions for over a year.

My clinic never asks clients to stay in therapy for a set amount of time. If you can afford only 5 individual sessions due to your time or financial situation, we will discuss what we can actually do during the five sessions. It is also very important for you to know how long and how many sessions you may need to attend therapy for you to achieve your certain goals.

Q5 "Is psychotherapy really confidential?"

Your personal information and the contents of your therapeutic process are strictly confidential. California laws and professional code of ethics state that psychotherapists are prohibited to disclose clients' information without their consents.

However, there are some exceptional situations where this rule must/can be waived:

1. When a client is danger to self (ex: suicidal ideation).
2. When a client is danger to others (ex: a thereat to hurt someone identifiable).
3. When there is a suspicious child abuse situation.
4. When there is a suspicious situation where a senior and/or a disabled person are being abused.
5. When there is a request from a judge.

There is a section devoted to elaborating on patients' confidentiality in treatment on my website. I highly recommend you to spend some time to familiarize yourself with your rights in therapy.

Please see Notice of Privacy Practice