Posted by Dinah on October 3, 2003, at 18:33:09
In reply to Therapy can seem so cruel, posted by HannahW on October 3, 2003, at 14:39:03
I'm glad you feel better about the actual event now. I've happened to see some information on the subject lately, and she was right in that changing your relationship to a friendship would be highly disapproved of in her profession.
It does hurt to ask for something and not get it. I know it's a traditional tenet of the profession to not gratify your patient's needs, but while I understand it intellectually I don't grasp it emotionally. Because part of what we want seems perfectly reasonable to me. We undress emotionally each week before our therapists and we want to assure ourselves that we are safe there. Part of feeling safe is knowing how they feel about us. That at least they like us a fair amount.
I was afraid to ask for sooo long for fear of hitting that refusal to gratify. But when I finally hinted at my fears, I found to my relief that my therapist apparently isn't of the refusal to gratify school.
poster:Dinah
thread:265255
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030925/msgs/265325.html