Posted by cricket on December 14, 2005, at 11:02:23
The message at the top of the Psychology board says, "This is a message board for mutual support and education."
I was thinking that some Babblers want all posts to them to weigh very heavily in favor of support. Whereas other Babblers welcome different perspectives, more challenges to their thoughts and feelings.
So maybe part of our job as caring fellow Babblers is to know as much as we can which camp any Babbler is in and respond accordingly.
My therapist was never the supportive type. So many times, particularly at the beginning of therapy, I would long for a kind word, a comforting tone. But then as I grew to accept the fact that he cared, I found I didn't need the support so much. In fact, it felt superfluous. I wanted to get at the meat of the issue, poke it, prod it, see where it gave way, where it was solid.
I guess I feel the same way about Babble now. Although I love the support, I know people care. So right now for me Babble is much more useful as a forum that enables me to see my thoughts, feelings, issues from another perspective.
So I hope that this current crisis doesn't make us shy away from that challenging/educational aspect of Babble.
poster:cricket
thread:588995
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20051210/msgs/588995.html