If you decide to consult with a specialist psychologist, you will face the question-to pay money for the services of a psychologist or seek free help.
Obviously, if you do not have enough money to pay for really expensive counseling, then you will choose free help. In Moscow, for example, there is a list of organizations that provide such services. Also, free psychological counseling can be obtained on the Internet. What can you expect from free psychological help?
Consider the advantages of free psychological care.
1. The main and most important plus-for consultation do not have to pay money. This is especially important if you are in cramped material conditions. Free help allows you to make life bearable or even just survive.
2. Free consultation is especially effective in an emergency. When you are under pressure, you will look for a way out and appreciate any help.
3. Turning to a psychologist, you will formulate your problem. This alone can clarify some points and help you see the solution.
4. If you have no one to talk to and discuss the situation, then, setting out your question to a psychologist, you will be able to talk. This conversation is similar to the situation when you share your sorrows with friends and family. That in itself is a relief.
5. Whatever recommendation the psychologist gives, you will receive support from him. This is what you may miss in real life.
6. Sometimes, when you find yourself in a difficult situation, you can feel lonely. A psychologist can share the experience with you, and you will not be left alone with your problem. For example, fear is not so scary.
Cons of free psychological care.
1. While free help is better than nothing, on average it is of lower quality. Often free consultations are conducted by novice psychologists or students in order to gain experience. The fact that psychologists do not charge money for their services almost automatically implies that they are not responsible for their work. So you have a chance to run into a hack. For example, getting psychological help on the Internet, you can not be sure that the people giving you advice — professional psychologists. Perhaps you will find a rational grain, but it will have nothing to do with psychological counseling.
2. The state cannot Finance the more or less long-term work needed to solve most psychological difficulties. As a rule, specialists working in public institutions are well trained to conduct quite professional psychological consultations. But by getting short-term free care, you can hope mostly for temporary relief. And after a while, your symptom may return. You can achieve a sustainable result only with a psychologist practicing deep work. To improve the quality of their work, such a specialist constantly invests money, time and effort in their education. The rate of a psychologist in a state institution can not recoup such investments. To find here a specialist capable of conducting deep work, you will have to work hard.
3. Even if an experienced professional psychologist provides free consultations out of pure altruism, the number of people wishing to use his services exceeds his physical abilities. Therefore, consultants have neither the time nor the desire to delve into the essence of the problems of each sufferer and give detailed answers. They are limited to General phrases suitable for all occasions. Such recommendations can be filled with common sense and be useful to some extent, but they will not be really effective, because they do not take into account the personality of the person to whom they are offered.
4. With free help, the principle of client confidentiality is usually violated. In the state of psychological centers psychologist reports to management for their work: gets maps, logs of reception. On the Internet, the answers to your request for help hangs in the public domain.
5. In state institutions, the psychologist is first of all loyal to the employer, and the second — to the client. This is because the employee is responsible to the employer. Therefore, many customers are trying to pay extra psychologist " Greyhound puppies "to" outbid " his loyalty. Therefore, assistance in state institutions can be called conditionally free.
6. When you pay for a service with your money, you invest more and appreciate more what you pay for. This helps in achieving the best result. In the free format, you get less benefit because the impulse pushing you to see a psychologist can quickly fade away once you get relief. Interrupting the meeting with the psychologist, you risk to meet again with his problem.
Free consultation of a psychologist can be useful in some cases. But do not put too much hope on it, as it has a number of significant drawbacks. Effective problem solving involves intensive psychological work, which in most cases is paid.