How is talking to a friend different from talking to a psychologist?

Psychotherapy is different from talking to friends. The psychologist will never criticize your choice, evaluate or refer to your own experience. With rare exceptions, when the psychologist understands that his personal history can have a specific therapeutic effect, and he does this consciously. The main thing you can do for yourself in therapy is to try to speak openly and sincerely. We understand that it can be difficult even with close people - and you are seeing a psychologist for the first time. There is no clear instruction on how to talk to a psychologist. It shouldn't be: psychotherapy is the best space to just be yourself. But finding the right psychologist for you can be very difficult and time consuming.