Posted by Penny on July 2, 2003, at 22:11:35
In reply to Re: The OTHER clients..., posted by mair on July 2, 2003, at 21:37:38
I completely understand about not wanting to run into the woman you know, and I think it's great that your therapist moved your session time ten minutes later so you wouldn't have to run into her. Very thoughtful of her. I still wonder what my therapist did that resulted in my not running into my coworker anymore. My appointment time didn't change.
I even have a problem with recommending my psychiatrist to people, and he's a physician. My roommate has talked about perhaps going to a psychiatrist and I truly feel my pdoc is one of the best, and, as my best friend, I would want her to have the best if she decided to go, AND it's not as though it's 'technically' a therapeutic relationship or anything...it's a doctor-patient relationship...but I would truly have a HUGE problem with her seeing my pdoc.
Of course, I don't see him for a short 15-minutes-in-and-out-here's-your-script-on-your-way kind of visit. He usually spends an hour or more with me when I see him, and will see me as frequently as I need him to. And I do confide in him a great deal, so I guess there would be a potential conflict of interest there, perhaps?
I also have a fear of her seeing him, or someone else I know seeing him, and then not liking him as much as I do. I would be very defensive of him if someone criticized him in front of me. Hell, my family already thinks he dopes me up too much...
I think I'd have to ask him for referrals to other pdocs if she wanted to start seeing someone... I don't think I can share him with anyone I know. Most of his patients are children, so that's cool, as I don't feel the same possessiveness toward him when it comes to them. I don't know that I've ever seen another young woman in the waiting room to see him, though I'm sure I'm not the only one he treats.
As for frequency of therapy visits - my former therapist wouldn't see me more than once a week, even when I felt like I needed it. I think it was partly because of the insurance restrictions and limited number of visits.
But my current therapist will see me twice a week if I need it, and I have seen her twice a week a few times. It makes me feel good knowing that she's there for me when I need her. NOT that my old therapist wasn't, but I had her only for the weekly 50 minutes and then, maybe, a brief phone call (5 minutes or so). With two therapy visits a week, it just makes it easier to get through rough times.
One of the people I met on this board said something poignant to me recently. She said she's been in therapy for years and years and that she finally decided that if she wants to spend the rest of her life getting to know herself better, then so what? What's so bad about that? I shared that with my therapist and she agreed - there's certainly no set length for therapy, as long as you still have issues to work on. And I don't really see now, after being in therapy, how we don't all always have issues we can be working on. Guess it just depends on the person and what you're comfortable with. Personally, I get a great deal out of therapy and don't have any friends or family who have been in therapy as long as I have (which is really not that long in the grand scheme of things), so they think it's a little strange sometimes the way I refer to something my therapist said or apply something she taught me, but I don't really care. I feel very fortunate to be in a therapeutic relationship, even if it isn't cheap!!!
Sorry for being so long-winded!
Penny
poster:Penny
thread:238620
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030529/msgs/238879.html