This is true! Competent therapists are incredibly hard to find and it shouldn’t be this way.
However, this isn’t a “therapists suck” issue so much as a the educational, medical, and general systems suck and fail us issue.
I’ll explain in a thread below https://twitter.com/benedict_rs/status/1337532595286978563

I say this as someone who it took nearly a decade to find a competent therapist. I am a Latina, first gen American, I come from poverty, am queer, and a SW! I could go on but this is to say psych wasn’t created with me or many of us in mind.

Getting a masters, PhD, or PsyD often costs 60-100k depending where you go. Additionally to get degrees to become a MFT, PCC, or CSW you must complete X amount of hours in order to graduate (usually this is unpaid internship). Beyond that you will work as an associate in order to

continue earning hours so you can take your licensure exams - usually associateships don’t pay very well in fact depending what route you go you end up paying 60-80% of what you make to supervisors etc... this is to say non-wealthy folks will have a harder time getting these

degrees. More privileged wealthy folks will dominate the field due to this (think of working 25-40 hours as an unpaid therapist then having to work for income AND have a full workload from grad school that isn’t sustainable for most folks)

Then there’s the fact that the field of psychology as a whole functions from the dominant narrative (so often a westernized white supremacist way of thinking) research historically has lacked critical thought and studies that things like the DSM are based on are studies that have

predominantly been done on boys and men - meaning studies don’t cover all genders or take into account varying cultural norms etc. this also benefits keeping the current system in place because then therapists can act as agents of control (many unknowingly)

Because of the way that the current system benefits the dominant system most therapists are not trained to be culturally competent nor critically question the status quo.

Mainstream psychology also works from the dominant narrative and often works from a medical model angle while CBT and DBT are amazing they often provide skills without offering the healing needed for complex trauma. However USA loves to teach its CBT+DBT because it shows fast

results... hypercapitalism LOVES this - unfortunately soul and trauma healing is not like healing the body and can’t be put on any sort of timeline, because of this the medical model will never work with or truly benefit mental health.

Many times mental health folks are told to be unbiased and that therapy isn’t political. This is impossible. Therapists can choose to follow the status quo OR they can chose to critically question and refuse to act as agents of control I.e., prioritize their clients happiness

All this is to say the mental health field has failed us. Just like many other systems have failed many of us. There is change happening and more folks who have been left out of the ivory tower and dominant narrative are beginning to join and fight for change internally.

There are queer, BIPOC, fat, disabled, undocumented, SW, LGBTQ+ folks all becoming therapists as I write this!

If you are searching for a competent therapist especially if you have complex trauma and/or marginalized identities I’d recommend finding folks who are of your community. statistically the field has been incredibly white (83%!) but the good news is the newer generation of

therapists is much more diverse in race, gender, and class. However, most of these folks will have graduated sometime in the last 5 or so years. If you’re looking for a therapist who doesn’t see the individual as the problem and will bear in mind things like community, oppression

Social norms, intergenerational trauma - finding someone who has any background in feminist or critical theory could be helpful as these theories inherently question our systems and who they benefit and do not pathologies any one individual. the model is more like

“what in our system failed this person that may have led to these mental health struggles? What additional stressors might they have that aren’t considered in the DSM? does a diagnosis benefit or harm them? How can I support? What does my client want from our work together?” Etc

ALSO If you’re a SW searching for a SW competent therapist in the USA please DM me id be happy to offer guidance.

Some general places that may be helpful to search beyond psychologytoday are:
therapyden, therapyforlatinx, openpathcollective, melanintherapy, gaylesta, and NQTTCN (national queer trans therapists of color)