Michael D. Penticuff, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
(512) 454-9300
1300 West Lynn Street, Suite 110
Austin, Texas 78703
For most people, the idea of seeking psychological services is likely to be very intimidating and unsettling. This is true for a wide variety of reasons:
- The desire to seek help probably arises at a time when you are feeling somewhat vulnerable and unsure of your own judgment.
- You are appropriately concerned about entrusting your sensitive material to a stranger.
- You are concerned about the possibility that your privacy may be violated.
- You were taught to keep secret any flaws in personal or family functioning.
- You were taught that discussing private matters is a form of disloyalty to your family.
- You were taught that you must be strong and that seeking help is a sign of weakness.
- You are embarrassed by your concerns.
- You are afraid that seeking psychological help means that you are crazy.
- You are afraid that you will be judged negatively by the psychologist.
- You fear that the psychologist will exert some sort of control over you.
- You are concerned that you will be drawn into a lengthy and expensive obligation.
- You are concerned that you may be pushed to move in directions or at paces that are not comfortable for you.
- You have been taught that psychology is useless.
- Your interest in seeking psychological services has been ridiculed by important others in your life.
- You feel that the timing is bad right now.
- You are concerned that you cannot afford psychological services.
Most of these reasons can be seen as boiling down to one form or another of anxiety. I view anxiety as a normal and necessary alarm system on which we rely to avoid danger. It can become a problem, though, when it signals danger in situations that are in fact opportunities for growth. One way of looking at psychological practice is that it is intended to help people to identify and overcome their anxious reactions to safe or beneficial situations.
What is actually likely to happen in the course of working with a psychologist is that you will be affirmed and validated as a human being. Ideally, this will occur in ways that will help you to overcome the anxiety that may have been holding you back from living life in a way that you find to be satisfying and fulfilling. A primary role of the psychologist is to help you to see yourself in the context of your environment in such a way that the changes you would like to make in yourself become clearer to you. It is this outside but supportive perspective that facilitates the growth you choose to accomplish. It is the lack of this kind of perspective in everyday life that is the reason that waiting for things to get better on their own is not typically an effective strategy.
Before you can make a fully informed decision about whether or not to call for an appointment, it is important that you have a more detailed understanding of what would be involved in becoming a client of my practice. I have provided a way for you to gain that understanding in a separate web page (Information About My Practice). If we do decide together that it is appropriate for you to come in for an appointment, I will ask you to sign a brief form indicating that you have read the material on this web page and that you understand it. I will not ask you to agree to take on any obligations to me regarding your money or your time past the first session. My view is that the only obligation that is likely to be helpful to you is the obligation you take on to yourself to begin the process of growth.
I hope that, having read this far, you will choose to seek an appointment. If you do call and arrange an appointment, please consider downloading and completing a copy of the Personal History Form (Information About Your Life) that I have found to be a good way for you quickly to provide me with a lot of useful information about you. By bringing this completed form with you to your appointment, you will make it possible for the session to be much more productive than it might otherwise be. This is partly because of the information it will provide me, but it is also because most people find that thinking about and answering the questions on the form is itself a valuable experience that begins the process of deepening insight into themselves.
E-mail. If you like, you may e-mail me: michael.penticuff@penticuff.com
Internet Issues. It is important to understand that I do not provide psychological services over the Internet. I have provided for e-mail access in case you find it helpful as the two of us make a decision regarding whether or not you will begin working with me in person in my office, so please do not assume that your sending me an e-mail message is in itself the beginning of a therapy relationship. If you make use of my e-mail access, keep in mind that e-mail is not a secure way to communicate, so do not send me any information you would not want to be intercepted and seen by an inquisitive stranger. For these reasons and others, I will probably not respond to an e-mail message with an e-mail message of my own, so please be certain to provide me with a telephone number if you want to be sure of a response from me.
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