A trusted psychologist I was seeing for five years moved away, so I had to find a new one. She was a very good therapist and I was paying her out of pocket since my crappy insurance did not cover our sessions. When I looked for insurance coverage, I found only therapists who were non-clinical psychologists. They were either marriage LMFT's or social workers, but I always had a better experience with PhD psychologists. I feel like they understand the root of your problems better and know how to help you.
So I started therapy with this woman who is a licensed social worker. I'm not sure if this is typical of all counselor-type therapy, but it didn't seem like she understood what my underlying problems are with depression and anxiety. She wants to focus on one issue that I currently have, like work or family and then makes me practice talking to pretend people in empty chairs. I even had to pretend to be sitting across from myself and lecturing what I should say in a pretend situation. Its really weird and definitely not the same in a real social situation. She also brings up my mother a lot, which is a sensitive issue that my previous psychologist wouldn't touch on without asking me. I'm not sure how much social workers know about psychology, but she tries to give me mini lectures on feeling human emotions and pretty random things that are hit and miss.
I am really not used to this kind of therapy before. I'm wondering if anyone else feels that social workers and MFT's are very different from clinical psychologists in the way they treat people. It doesn't seem to be working out for me.