Posted by Dinah on June 5, 2008, at 19:36:57
In reply to Re: I don't have to be semipsychic for this one » Dinah, posted by backseatdriver on June 5, 2008, at 15:09:42
It doesn't sound as if your therapist's stance is all that therapeutic or helpful. I don't think I'd have ever considered my therapist hostile or insulting. At least I never considered him deliberately insulting. Accidentally, sure.
Is he leading you to any particularly stunning insights perhaps? Some therapists seem to have a "direct" approach that I might find abrasive, but that others might find insightful and concise. Otherwise I'm at a bit of a loss as to how it's therapeutic to be hostile to a client.
I want to clarify, for my therapist's sake, that I didn't mean that he didn't want my caring because he wanted to reject me. I truly do feel that he cares for me. And he is very sensitive to my concerns for him, and considers it quite natural considering the length of time we've worked together. He understands that I wish he weren't hurting, and he has been very respectful in acknowledging it. But in the end he is my therapist. As he once said, he is part of my support system. I can't be part of his, or the therapeutic relationship would be compromised.
I know that I may come across as not caring about his pain, and I wanted to clarify that I really did, and I express it to the extent I feel I can in the bounds of therapeutic propriety. I care very much about his pain, I hate to see anything that keeps him from being happy, and I wish I could help him. But I recognize that I can't. And while I'm not averse to tossing aside the therapeutic conventions in order to be caring, my therapist absolutely does not want me to.
Well, to be honest, I want the very best for him as long as it doesn't mean that he terminates me. I'm not a saint.
poster:Dinah
thread:832701
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20080524/msgs/833196.html