Posted by Dinah on March 2, 2005, at 18:34:36
In reply to How do you define a good session or bad one?, posted by mair on March 1, 2005, at 22:25:26
Well, I guess I define different bad sessions differently.
There are the bad sessions full of misunderstandings, miscommunications, and anger. Those are the worst. Getting fewer, thank heavens. Today had the possibility of being one, but we managed not to go there. He's leaving for most of a week - next week. He just got word yesterday. He wants to see me Sunday evening (which I think is spectacularly stupid - going downtown on a Sunday evening when the building is virtually closed, waiting by the security guard till he comes) then Fri morning as usual. I'd rather just skip till Fri. He was filled with trepidation about telling me. You'd think I was a yeller or something, the way he stumbled all over himself explaining. Then when I mentioned that I was too dependent on him, he gave a short little laugh. He was all set to be angry and defensive. And I could have gotten angry that he was angry. But I just asked him if it didn't make perfect sense that that would be when I would question my dependence, when he was leaving town. And apparently this brilliant insight hadn't occurred to him before because he quit being angry, and admitted it was a perfectly sensible time. There was a time when this session could have turned ugly.
The bad session last time was just unfocused and unstructured. I meandered from topic to topic, he didn't do anything to deepen any of them, and I couldn't. I think I was distracted by the letter. It just seemed like an unprofitable expense.
poster:Dinah
thread:464751
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050225/msgs/465639.html