Posted by Dinah on April 26, 2009, at 8:27:31
In reply to Re: My Therapist is dying..., posted by CharlieGrll on April 26, 2009, at 4:27:21
I'm really sorry he didn't discuss these things with you very early. Before he thought it was realistically likely you would need to know, and before it would have been quite as emotionally loaded. Or that he didn't make arrangements with a colleague. I'm constantly asking my therapist these questions, and he's not even ill.
I understand your feelings of not wanting anyone else to be "your therapist". After Katrina and a month or more evacuation, my therapist moved to a city three or so hours away, then took a job in Europe that left him gone for six weeks. Eventually we worked out a way to see him occasionally, and then he moved back home. But for a while I thought it likely that I'd lost him. I did choose to find another therapist to talk about my distress. Not for a moment did I consider that therapist to be *my* therapist.
I think in this case, it might be seen as a consultation. Someone to ask advice of, someone to help you work out what to do next. Or it could be seen as grief counseling. One wouldn't really have grief counseling with the person you're grieving.
Or you might feel that after all the work you've done with this therapist, you are strong enough to face this alone.
My therapist and I have discussed the sort of questions you're asking now, about whether you should call to see him. He says things that I know he means now, in this moment, but that he might not mean when he's feeling like cr*p and is lacking in energy. I understand your desire to see him just one last time. Do you think he would call you if he was able to? He knows how you feel about him. Does he have any staff you could call? You know the situation better than we do. What do you think he and his family are up to doing?
poster:Dinah
thread:892802
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20090421/msgs/892839.html