How do I choose between therapist, psychologist, and psychiatrist? How do I pick one therapist out of the many therapists in my city?
A therapist primarily talks to you. Teaches you coping mechanisms. Works with you to understand yourself over time -- usually sessions every week. They often work in conjunction with a psychiatrist, who is a medical doctor who can give you prescriptions. Most people, or I think most, do both -- drugs and talk therapy combined I think have proven to be the most effective through clinical studies.
I did not want to take any drugs though. That has to do partially with my own family's history of addiction but also the uncertainty in the science around the drugs. SSRIs are particularly scary to me. My Dad is a research psychologist (he has a PhD in psychology but is not a clinician) and I was very scared of those drugs, how hard they are to get off, etc. I choose to to intensive talk therapy without the drugs, which is very hard, I think, but worked for me. The human brain is very complicated and questions about the long-term effects are mostly unanswered. I didn't want to be taking an anti-depressant for the rest of my life.
As for how to find a psychologist, I always tell friends that they should go shopping. You really need to jive with the person. You need to be willing to tell them your life story and to think that you could speak with them week after week. In the two times in my life that I have had to find therapists, I've gone to five or six and basically told them about myself. From that -- which isn't so much an interview as it is a practice session -- I've chosen the one I want to work with. This can be a real pain in the ass, as you're wasting insured sessions, but I think it's worthwhile.
The practical reality of finding that list of five people: once I just asked some friends and another time I just used my insurer's database.
A colleague (from the PM office) comes in in the morning and says to my hard working co-worker (working since 7 everyday, 10 hours a day, wanting to make a career): "You look so down, what happened?"
He was just working. He didn't say "Hello" or "Good morning". Out of total lack of empathy (it seems) he was totally fully convinced that this was appropriate (I questioned him)
Our business has really hard constraints
Nobody outside of it can fully grasp it
I AM NOT SURE if therapy can help