The psychotherapy consulting room can feel like a foreign place where a different social rules seem to apply.  Most clients with whom I meet for the first time are nervous about being in someone else’s space and beginning the daunting process of therapy; this discomfort often impedes their willingness to ask their most pressing questions. I created a list of questions that are very much appropriate to ask (and that most people do not ask).  Not every question will be relevant to everyone, and I couch this post with the warning that an indiscriminate litany of questions will not elicit the most generous and flexible approach from a prospective therapist.  Ask all that seem relevant and important. If you have sufficiently narrowed down the relevant questions, asked with a sincere curiosity, and avoided a challenging and/or interrogative tone, then any  abrupt, non-collaborative responses you get back from the clinician are a poor reflection on the therapist. Finding the right psychotherapist is important, so I encourage you to ask all the questions you need to feel …