Posted by Dinah on June 12, 2008, at 22:26:55
In reply to Jealous of Therapist?, posted by kateT87 on June 12, 2008, at 21:53:00
Welcome to Babble. :)
Do you see any therapeutic purpose to her stories? Therapy isn't friendship, and casual stories about therapists aren't really supposed to come up that often - unless they are carefully introduced for a specific therapeutic reason. It sounds as if she's talking a lot about herself. Does she only do this when it is therapeutically appropriate?
I've seen my therapist for thirteen years, and I can honestly say he's never shared elaborate details about anything in his life. I've stored up what things he does say and added them together to make some sort of picture. But not because he talks about himself or his experiences that often. And when he does, I can generally divine the reason he considered it appropriate to my therapy to tell me. For example, sharing a strategy he used to successfully address a problem I was having might be appropriate. Reminiscing about his delightful past vacations when I was planning a vacation wouldn't really be all that therapeutic for me.
What you're describing doesn't sound particularly appropriate to me. It wouldn't much matter if she was talking about how popular or how unpopular she was. Elaborate details of her life don't really have a place in your therapy on a regular basis.
I'm sure my viewpoint is influenced by what my own therapist has done. And perhaps other people have other ideas about this.
I also did have experience with a very polished and attractive woman therapist who knew just the right things to wear, was perfectly groomed, slender, and attractive. And I did feel a wee bit uncomfortable around her. I could have ignored the differential if I had a feeling she was ignoring it. Certainly I have attractive, slender, perfectly groomed friends. But I never did feel that it didn't matter to her, so I never felt like it didn't matter to me.
poster:Dinah
thread:834387
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20080524/msgs/834391.html