Posted by gardenergirl on January 26, 2004, at 14:36:31
In reply to Phone calls » gardenergirl, posted by DaisyM on January 26, 2004, at 13:51:13
> <<<See, this worries me. My Therapist encourages me to call, "if only to have someone help you hold all this stuff." He often wants to know if I want to come back after an especially hard session.
Daisy,
PLEASE don't worry about your own therapeutic frame/arrangements with your T as compared to what I described. I actually have clients with whom I also encourage between session phone calls. There is, in fact, a type of therapy, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which is set up to allow for phone calls and extra help to get through between sessions. There is nothing inherently wrong with calling your T or extra sessions if that is what is part of your arrangements.With the client I was referring to, the issue is really that I did not recognize his dependent and antisocial personality traits and was actually fostering this dependency. I was concerned about being inconsistent with him when I changed the rules, but I hope that I explained my reasoning well. Once he realized that he could not play me and trigger my over-helping counter-transference by throwing a tantrum or by making claims against the staff, the therapy went better.
Perhaps this was not the best example to share. In some ways, it's really hard to compare therapy experiences given how many different problems, diagnoses, personalities etc. exist in clients and in T's.
Daisy, you are doing fine! I'm sorry if my post triggered anxiety. If I can explain further, please let me know.
gg
poster:gardenergirl
thread:305455
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040123/msgs/305658.html