Posted by Dinah on April 16, 2010, at 19:52:13
I'm not very happy with my therapist. It looks like my guess of laziness is closest to the mark on why he's not enthusiastic about tackling emetophobia in therapy.
I was actually ashamed for him today. Not something you like to feel for someone you care about.
He told me very reluctantly that if I looked up a treatment plan and brought all the materials to his office, he'd be willing to help me with it.
I very delicately - and I really do mean that, I was very delicate and neutral about it - said something about being surprised. He flushed with apparent anger and muttered something... I think it was about not knowing anything about that kind of treatment. He did say he didn't want vomit in his office. He didn't want his office to stink. I told him that I had never heard of actual vomit being conveyed to a therapist's office. That it was more images and tapes of sounds. I asked him if he would find that upsetting himself. He said no, he'd probably joke like a schoolboy about it being gross. I told him I didn't think that was likely to be all that helpful.
Darn. I find I can't recall significant parts of the exchange at all well, other than that I was being very very careful, and that he seemed angry. I felt ashamed for him, because he didn't seem to feel ashamed for himself.
Am I missing something about this? Is it a perfectly respectable thing for a therapist to ask a client to come up with a treatment program and find all the materials, etc?
Geesh, that alone would be treatment enough.
I don't want to see him the way I'm seeing him right now. I think I've always been very good at being realistic about who he was, and more importantly who he wasn't. I think I've always been very accepting about his humanity. But lately...
I don't like it. I want to think better of him.
poster:Dinah
thread:943608
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20100405/msgs/943608.html