Thanks for the reply.

> Finally, the education for licensed therapist varies WILDLY, and there are a lot of really bad ones.

I hear you there. I had some iffy experiences early on. But a few years ago I found a really good one. He retired, but recommended someone else to me, who also turned out to be really good. I'm seeing him these days.

Maybe what needs to happen is for the norm to be that psychiatrists who see the general public (so not people like you, perhaps) do so in the context of a joint practice that includes various counsellor/therapist types as well. The approach could be that each patient is a client of the practice, with the various specialists contributing their expertise as needed.

(Maybe that already happens a lot. I couldn't say.)

I emphatically agree with your recommendation that more people should seek counseling, even those who lead seemingly happy and/or successful lives. Increased urbanization has unfortunately resulted in less socialization for a lot of people. Especially (at the risk of sounding sexist) for men, who tend to be more introverted. So I see a lot of my male friends struggling with social problems which I think some genuine counseling could really help them with.

We need to remove the stigma attached with seeing a psychiatrist/shrink as something done only by those suffering from mental ailments. And to be honest, I've seen a lot of people turn to self-help "gurus" who just confuse things further by not getting to the root of the problem.

How does one find a good psychiatrist?

Personal referrals.

But the real success in treatments now tends to be self education. Not WebMD I mean reading the actual research papers to evaluate what options would work for you. Know yourself.

Unfortunately, it seems to be a lot of trial and error.

And there's the rub. It's total chance, and there's no guide. You have to understand psychology and psychaitry to have a chance of navigating the system. And when you're struggling, that's the last thing you can do