I have found this to be a good, if somewhat unreliable way to find therapists. But it definitely is a real resource that shouldn't be sandbagged with downvotes.

I found my therapist exactly like this and I have been with him for a few years. I was judicious with narrowing the search results and then further combed through each one meticulously. My wife tried 3 or 4 until she found one that clicked. I consider this list to be vastly superior to a better help etc. which I have never had luck with.

And A decent therapist is better than an ideal one. Just getting started talking to someone is key.

It depends. If you're in a serious rut I seriously think a therapist could make it worse. You need the right fit who your brain is not going to dismiss the moment they open their mouth.

How would you find the right therapist in that situation?

that's the question, ain't it? Telling people to just suffer through terrible therapy probably ain't the answer

I think the question to ask is: is this therapist helping me or not? If not move on to another one.

What you're illustrating there is a self-perpetuating problem: the therapist I pick might not good, so I shouldn't talk to a therapist.

Starting to talk to someone is key; that gets the process rolling. Asking for help is the start, and after doing that if one doesn't get a satisfying answer, they can ask someone else. But if they never take that first step and try to ask, they've gone nowhere.

This is so true.

Indeed, the key concept is "good enough".

Just to add to the other comments: this is how I found my therapist after other sources failed. Everyone was too busy for a new patient, but I reached out to several from here and one of them said he had an opening for 40 minutes bi-weekly, starting at the end of the month. It was better than nothing (I’m serious, it was a huge boon!) so I took it.

I immediately told him I wanted more time, and within a couple of weeks, he had other openings in his calendar and we established a cadence that works much better for me.

All this to say that, psychology today is a legit resource that works, and just getting your foot in the door with any therapist is the most important thing you can do to get treatment. It’s not easy, but it can be done, and for me it has been worth it.

To add another vote to the pile, I found a good CBT couples therapist this way. A year later it’s worked out very well.

Seeing a bad therapist is worse than not seeing a therapist. I'd avoid online directories that are known to be gamed.

Seek referrals from real people in your area.