Posted by Fallsfall on June 22, 2008, at 17:50:06
In reply to Therapist can't control his emotions, posted by Looney Tunes on June 22, 2008, at 1:21:24
This does sound quite distressing.
I know, though, that when I started seeing my current therapist that I felt that he was extremely critical. I was miserable because I wanted very badly to please him. We also had a very difficult period when I felt that he had one agenda, and I had another, which led to some significant fights between us.
This was all 5 years ago and he has helped me completely turn my life around. So sometimes things go on in therapy that don't "sound" good, but really are.
So the real question for you is how can you tell if this friction between the two of you will be ultimately helpful or not? I think the best thing to do is to be very open and honest with your therapist. Tell him exactly how you interpret what he is saying, and ask him if that is what he intends to say. You may find, as I did, that your interpretation doesn't match his intention.
If you find that you are both viewing the interaction the same way, and you find the interaction hurtful, then ask him how this is supposed to help you.
I believed that my therapist did want what was best for me, and I stuck out the hard times. I'm really glad that I did. Do you have a feeling about whether your therapist is talented and skilled? About whether he cares about his patients in general, and about you in particular?
Sometimes we need to go through difficult times in therapy in order to make the progress we need.
If your therapist can not give you answers that are satisfactory to you, however, he may not be a skilled therapist, or he may just not be the right therapist for you. You can talk to him about this, too. If he is not helping you, then he has an ethical obligation to acknowledge this and to help you find someone who can help you.
I hope that you can go back and talk this out with him. It can be really hard to do that, but it is often very valuable.
I wish you both wisdom.
Falls
poster:Fallsfall
thread:835890
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20080616/msgs/835963.html