Please do your homework, and satisfy yourself that you are making the right choice. Before calling, see if you can find any therapists whom you might prefer in this region who have earned doctor’s degrees, and who have more than more than 30 years’ experience in psychology and marital & family therapy. Dr. Ransen checks every month, in order to keep his fees lower than other therapists who have doctor’s degrees and decades of experience.
Here’s a
guarantee you have probably never been
offered before. If, at the end of your first session, you
believe that you have wasted your time, and if you decide
that you have nothing to gain from a return visit, then
there will be no charge at all. Not one
penny! Your fee for the first session will be
returned immediately, with a smile and best wishes.
That’s how confident Dr. Ransen is that you will
begin to experience a remarkable feeling of hope and
well-being after only one session. Trust and good faith are
at the core of his practice.
Many callers ask about insurance. Here are the
straight answers. Dr. Ransen does not participate in
insurance plans. There are several good reasons for
this:
First, therapists who accept
reimbursement from insurance companies are expected to
diagnose you with some sort of “disorder,” so
you are presumed to be sick from the very beginning. Dr.
Ransen doesn’t look for mental illnesses or
disorders, doesn’t use fancy words to
“diagnose” you, and doesn’t try to
“cure” you. Rather, he is well-trained to help
you solve difficult problems in your life,
relieve your stress,
anxiety, and depression,
and restore the balance in your life and your
relationships.
Second, any diagnosis of a mental disorder will stick to
your health record for the rest of your life. That could
make it difficult for you to obtain jobs or health
insurance in the future, or cause your premiums to go up,
or both.
Third, most health insurance policies place severe
restrictions on coverage of mental health services. For
example, you may have unusually high deductibles and
co-pays, and your coverage will probably be limited to a
handful of sessions per year, after which you must pay out
of your pocket, just as you would if you did not have
health insurance.
Finally, insurance companies are happy when someone
prescribes drugs, like anti-depressants,
because they are cheaper than real psychotherapy.
Unfortunately, you’d be lucky to find an
anti-depessant that helps more than sugar pills. And these
drugs often have nasty side-effects,
including weight gain and
decreased sexual desire. If you do find a
drug that helps, what will happen when you stop taking it?
Is the drug really solving anything, or just masking the
symptoms?
Dr. Ransen will gladly write a brief letter to your
insurance company if you and your insurance company request
one, but he cannot guarantee that you will be reimbursed by
your insurance company. In practice, there is a wide
variation in the willingness of insurance companies to
reimburse customers for mental health care.
Please feel free to call with any other questions. You will
always receive honest, straightforward
answers in plain language.
Oh, and one more personal request from Dr. Ransen. “I
don’t accept any money or gifts from pharmaceutical
reps to push their drugs. They occasionally help while you
take them, but as soon as you stop, the source of your
problems is still there. If you are among the many who have
benefited in a long-lasting way from my guidance, then
please spread the word. Therapy is my passion, my calling.
I have no other sources of income. Thank you, and be
well!”