Therapist in Malibu, CA
A lot of people fear going to therapy. Sometimes their fear revolves around the therapist or the development that they may experience while working with a therapist in Malibu, CA. Sometimes the relationship that they develop with their therapist scares them because it will be long lasting and healthy.
But did you know that some people have a lasting worry or severe confusion about choosing a male or female therapist? This is especially true if the topics being covered in therapy have anything to do with gender identity, sexuality, sexual orientation, or sexual abuse.
So obviously a big question in the therapist community is can you ask for a therapist of a specific sex or gender? The answer is yes. In fact, when you call a therapy office to get started with you may be asked if you have a preference, this is usually true.
When you are finding a new therapist or your first they are pissed, you want somebody that’s going to make you comfortable in pursuing treatment with them. If you are not comfortable with your therapist, then you’re not going to get the most out of therapy. And therefore you we wasting your money.
So what does it mean to find the therapist you’re most comfortable with? The answer to this is sometimes it’s a specific gender identity, sometimes it’s ethnicity, sometimes it’s sexuality or orientation, it could even be a relationship status or religion. The point is you need to find a therapist that you can relate to. Not every request can be met, and if you wait on a therapist of a preferred gender or other subset that you were late to it could delay your sessions.
When it comes to gender, why might someone prefer a therapist of a certain gender? There are many reasons, some people just feel more comfortable talking to a therapist about personal intimate topics if they are the same gender. So in this instance, it would be easier for a woman to talk to another female.
If there is past trauma or abuse, it may also make people wary of speaking with somebody who is the same gender as their abuser. So say you have a female survivor of domestic violence who is in a heterosexual relationship. She may not be comfortable pursuing treatment with a male therapist, as it could be stressful and triggering which would make therapy unsuccessful. Another example is, so you have a homosexual male who was in a relationship and was abused. In his case he might want to speak to a female therapist, or another homosexual man. It depends on preferences and it depends on what you as the patient think you can handle.
All therapists are trained to be sensitive to diverse identities and the needs of their patients, but sometimes there are non-verbal cues a therapist may give up and may not realize they give up. There’s can make working with that therapist a bit harder if they’re not fully comfortable working with somebody of diverse identity.