The jargon on therapists' websites

As an Expert Patient in complex trauma, I’d like to give you my experience of navigating psychotherapists' websites while looking for a therapist for complex trauma. As a background, I have an undergraduate degree in biological sciences and I did 4/6 modules for an undergraduate psychology degree with the Open University. I mention this to demonstrate that I have a science background and some understanding of psychology. Likely much more than most therapy clients.

4-years-ago I was looking for a private therapist. I was fortunate in that I knew to look for an EMDR therapist, because I’d already had a year of EMDR therapy for early childhood abuse. For reasons I won’t go into here, this therapy had gone awry and ended long before I was ready, and I was left severely depressed, anxious, dissociating, having flashbacks, and panic attacks. At the time, there were very few EMDR therapists in my area. One advertised that he was a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, which was meaningless to me, and that he specialised in complex trauma, also meaningless to me. I knew what abuse was. I didn’t know what complex trauma was and therefore I didn’t know whether I fit his criteria for treatment, or not. I had to look up what complex trauma was, and from that, determine whether what I was struggling with matched this criteria. I also looked up what a clinical psychologist was – and the job description didn’t really help me to determine whether he was a therapist or not, it was very confusing! This is no exaggeration. I so easily could have dismissed his help, but like I said, there were very few EMDR therapists near to me. Therefore, I spent time Googling the jargon all the while struggling with severe depression, extreme anxiety, flashbacks, dissociation and panic attacks, trying to determine whether I fitted the description for complex trauma. I took a risk that I would be rejected for not being someone he treated, and contacted him. And I am so glad that I did, because he turned out to be the therapist who transformed my life. He really got trauma – but I would not have known this from his website. Remember that trauma clients can often be timid and afraid of ‘getting it wrong’, so they may not wish to risk contacting you only to find they’ll be rejected. I contrast this with another therapist’s website, where he describes how the client may be feeling, or translates the abuse into distressing symptoms her or she may be experiencing.

My suggestion: ask a non-therapist friend without a science or pyschology background to read your website, if they don’t understand it, you need to change how you’re advertising yourself. Describe to yourself how trauma patients feel, act, and react in everyday life. Describe it in a way that clients can relate to what you’re writing. Describe in what way their lives may not be working for them, due to the impact of the trauma, e.g. struggling to make or keep friends. Struggling to trust people. Struggling to have a relationship. Struggling to make progress in their work. Write your description of what you help with from their perspective; I need to be able to relate to what you’re telling me that you treat. You know what you’re talking about, but the average client looking for a therapist while in distress, is going to struggle to navigate their way through the psychobabble. You may be the best, most compassionate and caring therapist in the world, but if I don’t understand what you’re talking about on your website, then I am probably going to go with someone I do understand. And we’ll have both have missed out.