Posted by DaisyM on September 11, 2004, at 1:48:49
It was fun to turn the tables, so to speak!
I had left a message for him Wed. evening and he didn't return the call until early Thursday morning. This is very unlike him. I figured he was gone, or something else happened. When he called Thursday morning, he said he "forgot" to check his messages until pretty late in the evening and I had already turned off my phone. I didn't want to talk to him at that moment, I was OK and I was seeing him anyway in the afternoon.
So when I went in, he apologized again for the delay and asked me if I was angry with him.
"Nope," I said. "I'm not. I understand that you have a life of your own. I was just surprised. I expected a better excuse than "I forgot." And I wonder WHY you forgot..."
He grinned and said "I just did. Once in a while I slip up."
"Ah," I said, adopting a Freudian pose and tone. "But it is so unlike you. Let's ask ourselves, what were you unconsciously avoiding? Me? Another client?"
"Nope. No one I can think of." He said. "OK, I'll play along. What do you think?"
"What I think doesn't really matter, " I responded. "Just associate freely. What comes to you? WHO forgot you in the past? AND...How do you feel about these questions?"
He laughed and said he wanted his "chair" back. He noted that there was a lot of power on the therapist side, because no matter what he said, I could analyze it or call it defensive posturing. And he liked his power.
It was sort of a fun interchange and nice to know he recognizes the power inherent to that chair. And he said again that just because he didn't call back right away doesn't mean he doesn't care. I suspect this will come up a few times before we are done with it.
Anyone else every "played" with their therapist? I'd love to hear more stories.
poster:DaisyM
thread:389510
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040905/msgs/389510.html