Posted by Apperceptor on March 4, 2004, at 20:55:14
In reply to Re: Do you have a picture of your T? (nm), posted by terrics on March 4, 2004, at 14:43:11
Hi-
I am currently in a Ph.D. program for clinical psychology, and I find this thread extremely disturbing. If you wonder why therapists may be hesitant to continue working with you or seem distant, try to remember that we are human, and in fact, these requests are extremely disturbing and can cause quick burnout.
It takes a very strong psychiatrist/psychologist/therapist to work with somebody who has Borderline Personality Disorder, and you are not making it any easier by asking for these bizarre, inappropriate favors. Would you ask your optometrist for his or her picture? Probably not. So try to give your therapists the same respect. We have spines too, and with that comes the ability to feel chills run up and down it with these...for lack of a better word, creepy...requests.
The majority of psychologists and LCSWs, as well as many psychiatrists, receive training in psychoanalytic approaches as part of their education. While not all agree with these approaches, there is a general theme to be very cautious with issues of transference, where the patient/client transfers sexual/loving/hating/etc feelings onto the clinician. I guarantee you that transference is the first issue that would come to most professional minds with these horrid invasions of privacy. Not only do these teenybopper crushes create severe ethical dilemmas, they also are extremely insulting. You should be ashamed of yourselves for treating your therapists like your children...they put up with enough already. I pray, above all else, that your therapists have the acumen and training to handle you appropriately. If you set foot in my office, I would drop you off my client list before you could develop a Polaroid.
poster:Apperceptor
thread:319365
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040303/msgs/320361.html