I have an appointment with a clinical psycologist and wondering how will he be different than a social worker or a marriage couselor. Has a Phd but I can't find out what training each of the above has to see difference between them. So many in telephone book and all with initial after their names but how do you find out what those mean??? Should I ask any questions about their experience with affairs or just assume they use the same theory for most problems etc?? thanks

The book Divorce Busting has a very good chapter on how to pick a counselor, what to look for, what questions to ask.<p>I also suggest that you check out the section on conseling on this web site.<p>Be forwarned, most 'marriage counseling' are more apt to try to help you come to terms with ending your marraige and moving on then with helping you save your marriage. Pick wisely and drop a counselor if you do not like the direction they are taking the counceling.<p>[ May 14, 2002: Message edited by: zorweb ]</p>

Hi - We've been in counseling for over a year now and I've been to 3 counselors during that time. Where I live its even hard to get in to see ANY of them so that was quite a challenge. ( we live in the gray rainy northeast so I found out depression is raging here!) Anyway- after d-day we went to our pastor for one session.H re-wrote all our history and said he wanted out to be with OW. I then found a man therapist recommended by some of the therapists who were too booked up to see me.( that's a great way to find a good one!) I said, if youre too busy to see us who is the BEST counselor you could refer me to?That's how I got his name and number. Then I called him and asked him his views on marriage and affairs and years of experience with those. I picked a man therapist who was in his 50s and married a long time with teens because my H was going thru a MAJOR second adolescence from a mid-life crisis. He is 43. So I wanted someone he could relate to and someone who could 'reach him' and see that marriage is WORTH it!He was the counselor who was finally able to get H to break it off once and for all with OW by giving him step by step directions. I wanted individual counseling too myself so I went to a woman clinical psychologist- but she seemed impersonal and not very emotional so I quit there after 2 sessions. I then asked around at church and found a Christian psychologist woman who is pro-marriage and does marriage counseling and we switched to her after one year with the male social worker counselor. I felt by that point we were 'beating each other up' too much in therapy and needed a more hopeful spiritual approach. Still it was great to be able to vent my anger during that first year. Good luck!F lifeismessy