I don’t like long prefaces, so I’ll get straight to the point. Approach. This is really important, although not everyone pays enough attention to this aspect. Psychoanalysis, CBT, Gestalt, hypnotherapy... What is it all about? It is better to read brief information about each of these approaches in advance. In essence, they all go towards the same goal, but in different ways. For example, when choosing psychoanalysis, you need to be prepared for long-term therapy 2-3 times a week, long and painstaking digging in childhood. The Gestalt therapist will pay more attention to feelings and the moment “here and now.” The CBT therapist shows how the attitude to the situation affects the person’s condition. In general, here you need to choose what resonates most with you. Education. It must be psychological. (either higher education or professional retraining). And in addition to basic education, training in one of the areas of psychotherapy is required: CBT, EOT, existential therapy or something else. Many specialists are trained in different areas and practice a multimodal approach. That is, they use techniques from different approaches. If you are already looking at some specialist on the Internet, read what articles he writes, how he expresses his thoughts, what topics he covers. Probably banal advice, but still: it is important that the psychologist appeals to you in appearance . He can be an excellent specialist, with a gold medal and honors diplomas. But if something pushes you away, it will be difficult to work. Personal therapy and supervision/interview. This is a mandatory program for a specialist in the helping profession. You can always ask a specialist personally if there is no information about this on the page. And if in response to your question you hear that he already knows everything and has nothing to treat in himself, then you need to run away from such a person. And finally. What should you beware of? All sorts of proprietary methods, pranapsychologists with an admixture of esotericism. Nowadays it has become very fashionable to be a psychologist. This niche is very soft and pliable. And marketers are actively using this. Have you probably heard about unpacking the personality, expanding consciousness, reaching high vibrations? Psychologist-tarologist/regressologist/astrologer is always a box with a surprise. It is not clear at what point and how far he will go into esotericism. And how all this marketing will affect your psyche is also not very clear. I hope my article will help you make your choice )