Posted by DaisyM on March 14, 2004, at 14:25:13
In reply to Re: I hate therapy (rant) » Elle2021, posted by tinydancer on March 14, 2004, at 5:20:09
>>>I think that its natural to hate therapy when it gets really hard.
>>>In therapy, you give and you give and feel, sometimes, so empty because you don't get anything back. It's you doing the work, you're left alone to sort it out. The therapist is your mediator, a kind of support, but then there's boundaries, and limits, and transference, and everything is a big nasty syndrome of something.
Tiny,
I agree with you that it is natural to "hate" therapy when it gets really hard. However, I must say that I disagree that I don't get anything back. Therapy has definately made me more aware of how lonely I am, how there is a huge hole in my life. But my Therapist has provided something no one ever has for me...he serves as a safe base from which to explore all these feelings and issues. He tells me often that he is "in it with me" that he will be right beside me as we dissect some of the really hard problems. And he doesn't just say it. He has shown over the past 10 months that he means it.
When I report feeling "alone" in doing the work, he tries to reinforce that he is with me, available by phone, or available for more sessions. (see previous post about swimming pool). Letting him help me is one of the issues I battle. It isn't that he doesn't have strong, tight boundaries, he does. I never feel those are threatened and I don't have romantic feelings for him. But increasingly I'm showing more of myself because he makes me feel safe.
I'm sorry you don't feel this way and I hear pain and frustration in your post. I just wanted to give the other side a voice -- that while therapy is a tremendously hard process, so much harder than I EVER imagined, it doesn't have to be a solitary, isolating process.
Please don't read this as a put down in anyway. I feel really lucky sometimes to have the Therapist I do.
Daisy
poster:DaisyM
thread:324159
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040313/msgs/324313.html