So, I have started to get really frustrated with my therapist.

At our very first session I told him that I wasn't sure what to expect from therapy and that, if anything, I would really like to learn some techniques on how to get myself out of those self-hating internal dialogue spirals that I often end up in. That I've heard of grounding oneself but it's never been explained in a way for me to understand and in turn be able to see if it's something that could be helpful to me.

I have been seeing him once a month for about 8 months now and he still hasn't given me any advice on learning coping techniques.

In the first few sessions, I felt like he was just focusing on my weight problem. I ended up breaking down and telling him this and he told me that I was the one leading the conversation and that if he brought it up it was because I had led the conversation in that direction (okay!). I was speechless as I never brought it up.

He will give me a website to look at or some "homework" to do and then never follows up on anything.

I explained to him one time how I feel empty and my struggle with loosing my creativity and he just told me to go and tell my GP.

I feel like I spend my sessions listening to him mansplain things to me (like basic life skills) or repeating back to me what I've already said.

I've stuck with him because I live in the middle of nowhere and he's the closest (only 1 hour away) and because I've never been to a therapist before and I don't know how they work (I feel like I've seen every half assed counsellor in the southern hemisphere though).

If you've gotten this far, thank you.

I'd love to know if this is typical therapist behaviour and I'm just being "sensitive" or if I've got an over qualified counsellor?