* Of these, only one person in five seeks professional help. More than 40,400,000 severely troubled people do not receive any treatment. * An unknown number of healthy, emotionally untroubled Americans enter therapy for reasons of self-development. * More than 130 distinguishable therapies now exist. * These therapies are offered by a variety of health care professionals, including social work counselors, clinical and counseling psychologists, psychiatrists, biofeedback therapists, and others. Their backgrounds, training, fees, and durations of treatment vary considerably. * These professionals practice in a number of different settings: in private practice, group sessions, public and private agencies, hospitals, newly established nonhospital {xii} inpatient facilities, and in the context of educational programs. * Most people who enter therapy do not know what alternative approaches to therapy exist or how to choose among them. They usually locate a therapist in a more or less random way. * Most people fear the idea of entering counseling or psychotherapy. They do not have a clear conception of what to expect: they do not know in advance what the _experience_ of therapy is like. * For a variety of reasons, many people who think of going to a therapist are concerned about whether their relationship with the therapist will really be confidential. If you are especially concerned about privacy, you should be aware of several ways that confidentiality may be broken, what the laws concerning confidentiality are, and, in particular (what few people realize), how insurance claims for psychological care can invade an individual's privacy. * Counselors and therapists tend to specialize in one or a small number of alternative approaches to therapy. Some approaches to therapy are most appropriate for treating certain problems or responding to certain personal interests; others are better suited to providing help with other problems and concerns. Choosing a therapist with an orientation that is right for _you_ can be extremely helpful and can help you save much time, money, and energy. These facts highlight the situation in counseling and psychotherapy that anyone faces who enters therapy today. From them, you can see that there is a bewildering array of counseling professions, of distinct approaches to therapy, and of settings in which help is offered. This guide's intention and hope is to help you understand the alternatives, and to help you form your own judgment how it may be best to proceed. The book hopes to give you real assistance so you may make a good choice--thereby saving you emotional investment, time, money, and the potential discouragement of avoidable false starts with therapies that may not help because they are not relevant to your goals, values, and personality. {xiii}