Posted by Dinah on June 17, 2004, at 9:56:36
In reply to Re: I think my mom would go, posted by lucy stone on June 17, 2004, at 8:42:55
I'm not altogether certain that it doesn't matter what my mother is really like, either. That would probably be true if she were dead. But I need to deal with her, and because of that, any information he has about her will help him discuss my options in a more realistic way.
For example, if he thinks that my perception that she has poor reality testing might or might not be correct, he might suggest I do certain things that I know won't work, but that he doesn't know won't work because he's not sure if my perception is correct. But if he meets her and sees for himself that she has poor reality testing, he won't waste either of our time by suggesting things that are completely inappropriate, and won't get annoyed with me for "dismissing" his suggestions.
I definitely found that to be true with my husband. After meeting him, my therapist quit trotting out the standard marital therapy bromides about communications and just started saying "Well, surely that isn't surprising given who your husband is."
Overall, I think it might be useful for my therapist to meet everyone in my life. Fortunately there aren't that many, just mainly my parents and husband.
poster:Dinah
thread:357413
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040614/msgs/357523.html