Posted by Penny on October 8, 2003, at 12:52:07
In reply to Re: Please read...Code of Ethics Therapy, posted by judy1 on October 8, 2003, at 10:58:53
And told her about this topic that was being hashed out on Psychological Babble. And her comment was that it was 'silly' to think that a therapist would terminate a client for feeling any certain way and voicing those feelings.
Granted, she's not a social worker, she's a psychologist. With many years of experience. But I know that my former therapist, a clinical social worker, felt the same way, as we discussed transference many times.
What my therapist emphasized is that the whole point of therapy is to DISCUSS those feelings, rather than acting on them. So BY ALL MEANS tell your therapist how you are feeling so you can address it in therapy via TALKING.
She did say that if the feelings on behalf of the therapist, whether good or bad, became more than the therapist could handle, then it would be the therapist's obligation to refer the patient to another therapist - b/c in such a case, those feelings would be detrimental to the therapy and the client. But this isn't usually a problem, as most therapists are trained to handle such feelings.
And I brought up my point of 'isn't that why so many therapists are in therapy?' and she said of course.
And I won't go any further with what she said, but suffice it to say that, according to MY therapist, there is NOTHING wrong with any feelings you have for your therapist, good or bad, and it is a good idea for you to share your feelings with your therapist, b/c it allows you to work through them in therapy. I would imagine this is especially important if you are feeling particularly troubled by your feelings.
And on a personal note, as someone who is planning on attending social work school to become a therapist - if a therapist gets that freaked out about a client having strong feelings toward him or her, then perhaps they are in the wrong line of work.
P
poster:Penny
thread:266267
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030925/msgs/266779.html