My tips for getting therapy for schizospectrum disorders!
Iâm somebody whoâs always been good with navigating finding therapists who specialize in my issues. When my friends need a therapist they come to me to scroll thru Psychologytoday for them and find someone for their niche. When I was diagnosed with schizotypal I expected the same thing to happen⊠but when I tried Cognitive Behavioral Therapy like most of the easily accessible sources suggested, it didnât seem to help. After not finding any easy answers I contacted specialists and read studies, as well as digging a little further online. Here is my findings!
Psychologytoday is not great for searching for schizospectrum friendly therapists
This gagged me. I have always used psytoday to search for therapists. But not only does it not have tags for most of the therapy models Iâm going to list, it doesnât even let you search for schizophrenia (you can search psychosis but if you want schizotypy specific help that can be too broad) and doesnât have a custom keyword search (afaik)
I had way better results using inclusivetherapists.com which letâs you do your own term search and has a schizophrenia spectrum tag! It also had tags for multiple of the therapy models below. I got my current therapist this way and it is going well so far! However, the site only services the US, Canada, and Hongkong
âThe Recovery of The Self In Psychosisâ was a really invaluable resource and I suggest getting your hands on it
When I was starting to feel discouraged I found this publication via the MERIT instituteâs website. Which I found when searching for schizospectrum specific therapy research. It outlines a few therapy models (including MERIT) that are tailored to help psychosis. It also outlined why CBT for psychosis can be ineffective. There is a focus on patient rights and self determination that I loved. Plus the suggested pdf reader for mobile has a robot voice that will read it like an audiobook for you!
Here are the models that were suggested to me by professionals I contacted and by this publication
Psychodynamic Therapy (has an IT tag)
Mentalization Based Treatment (MBT)
Metacognitive therapy (MCT) (has a tag)
Metacognitive reflection and insight therapy (MERIT)
Narrative Enhancement Cognitive Therapy (NECT) (the more general narrative therapy does have a tag)
Psychodynamic is the easiest to find out of these and the least specifically geared towards psychosis. It is, however, customized towards the needs of the patient. MERIT and NECT are the most geared towards psychosis.
A lot of these models focus on forming a sense of self, improving relationships, and identifying emotions. A lot of them are also still experimental and/or uncommon. On the other hand, they at least arenât all only available in America. Many professionals in the readings I saw were located in Europe or Israel, and hopefully there will be more in other countries.Â
What I personally did was look for a therapist with schizophrenia spectrum experience, and then tell them about these models as something I was interested in. The pickings were slim in my area so I set it to the entire state of residence and looked for online treatment.Â
Another method is to contact outpatient programs at hospitals or behavioral health centers which is where many of these therapy models are being employed. I am in contact with a âcommunity centerâ that gives aid to those with severe mental illness, but I havenât started treatment and I know itâs definitely something many of us will be hesitant about considering systemic abuse common in this kind of facility.Â
What I saw outlined was that forming a safe, honest relationship with your therapist can be more important than what model is used. That will help with negative symptoms as well as helping with feeling safe in reality instead of having to retreat into delusion/fantasy/emptiness.Â
 Going into my first sessions with my new therapist I made a list of things I tend to hide from therapists and sent it to her. I also got permission from her to send diary entries or emails to help me not blank out in therapy and to make sure I express myself honestly. Iâm still in the beginning phases, though, so please take this just as a starting point where YMMV greatly. Iâm also no professional!
Thank you for reading, I wish you luck in your journey!!! Reblogs and additions appreciated!
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