I have not seen a difference. I have seen a few msw/lcsw and one phd. The phd seemed crazier than I am. So my experience with degrees was that they do not make a difference.

lol, stoppers, I can relate to that. The phd psychologist I saw a grand total of once was a disaster.

My T is an LMFT, LPC. I think she is pretty good (not perfect).

I know a few social workers in real life-- my uncle, my cousin, and an ex-pastor's wife. I don't think any of them are impressive specimens of humanity or even particularly nice people, so I admit I am biased against social workers and would be hesitant to work with one. Personal preference.

Hope this doesn't trigger anyone, but when my cousin was interning at a mental health clinic doing intakes he told me, "You know, all these people who say they have depression, it's generally one of two things. They want meds or they are lazy. I mean, I've been depressed but I still get out of bed every morning."

I asked him if he felt that way about depressed people, was he sure he was in the right field? And he said, "Hey, I do not want to work with the mentally ill. Course it's hard to avoid in social work, but I'll see what I can do. . . "

And my ex-pastor's wife who was a social worker told me psychology could help people a little bit, but since they'd be going to hell anyway what was the real point?

And my uncle is always telling humorous or complaining stories about his clients. No way in heck I'd want to work with him.

Okay, sorry for the rant. This is just my limited experience.

My T is a Ph.D and is wonderful. Whenever she is gone, she has always had an LCSW as her back-up. Even among those in the profession, for the most part, I think there is a general agreement that, for therapy, it's not the title that matters (of course, they must be licensed to practice therapy, but the letters after their names don't matter as much with therapy).

The only real difference is in what they can do and have experience with outside of the therapy room. For example, an LCSW or an LMHC has more hands-on experience with clients right out of school whereas a Ph.D has focused more on research than the clinical aspects. They do internships and have clients, but research is more stressed for a doctorate than for other degrees.

(((HIC)))

How depressing. I have complained to my T that how do I know he's not an axe murderer outside of the office? He told me that when supervised wanna-be therapists, he has actually told some of them that they are in the wrong field if they are not caring people.

(((TAS)))


It seems as though the relationship is the most important thing but I have a bias towards Ph.D.'s just because I'm so complicated. I went to an MS. 15 years ago. I don't think he understood me as well as my current T who is a Ph.D. It might not have been the degree though. It could also have to do with their level of optimism and how far they were able to take themslves.

I think the big thing is the "person" and how much work they've done on their own issues. IMHO you can't help someone with an issue you haven't acknowleged or known about yourself.

I have seen psychs with a masters and doctoral qualifications, but my current T is a medical doctor with psychoanalytic training.

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how much work they've done on their own issues. IMHO you can't help someone with an issue you haven't acknowleged or known about yourself.

Yes, that's it. How would someone ever know in advance how much work a therapist has done on themselves?

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of course, they must be licensed to practice therapy, but the letters after their names don't matter as much with therapy

So far as I know, the social workers I mentioned are not licensed to practice therapy. They all have government jobs "helping" people in various capacities, which includes some counseling of a limited sort, but not what we would think of here as therapy.

Do you know what a social worker has to do to be licensed to work as a therapist? I am thinking in any case their degree is in social work as opposed to counseling or psychology. . . I wonder if that doesn't provide the best foundation. The social workers I know do not seem very psychologically minded. Again, just my experience.

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How depressing. I have complained to my T that how do I know he's not an axe murderer outside of the office?

lol, I know. I often wonder what my T is like socially, outside of therapy. I doubt she says anything too nasty about her clients, although I wouldn't be surprised if she indulges in a little grumbling to blow off stress either. I just don't think the deep sense I have of her as genuine in her caring and empathy could be entirely off. Hope not, anyway!

You're right, not all social workers are licensed to practice therapy, but a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) is. And yeah, there are some quacks who pretend to be therapists but when I talked about essentially disregarding the letters after the name, I would only suggest that on people who you've already verified is licensed to practice therapy. Sorry for that confusion.

Ah, okay. I should probably research the difference between someone with a degree in social work (like my uncle, cousin, and ex pastor's wife) and a LCSW. I kinda thought they were the same thing. Thanks for explaining.

Sorry for the slight thread derail, TAS.

No worries, HIC! And yes, apologies, TAS.

Liese unless personal therapy is a mandatory part of their training (which it is with psychoanalytic T training) then you don't know. That's one of the reasons I'm so passionate about that approach