Posted by JenStar on July 24, 2004, at 13:42:32
In reply to Use of dramatic language, posted by Miss Honeychurch on July 23, 2004, at 13:29:30
Sometimes I use a 'blanket' overused work like HATE because it's easier than describing the complexity of my REAL feelings.
For example, "I just HATE my neighbor across the street" is JenStar code for
"I feel guilty every time I see the neighbor because I spoke firmly and somewhat harshly at him for letting his dog poop on my lawn w/o scooping it while I was directly watching, and even though I was RIGHT and he was WRONG and he had let the dog poop many times, I wish I had approached it differently, and now we're awkward around each other, and although I think he's irritating and annoying and rude, I'm worried that he's friends with the OTHER neighbor and in fact is telling the other neighbor that I'M Rude and obnoxious (maybe sometimes, yes, but not always!) And why does his wife always have to back out of the driveway w/out looking? It irritates me...she almost hit me again the other day!
So..maybe your T just suspects you have a wealth of info to share lurking behind that "hate" word.
(But I really do hate my neighbor! Sort of...!!)
JenStar
> Do any of you have problems with this? I made an innocent comment in therapy yesterday that I hated hot weather. So we spent 10 minutes on this. "hate is a strong word, Laurel." But I do this all the time. I dramatize and exagerrate all of my feelings. My T says this is typical of emotionally neglected people. When I was a child I would have to exagerrate everything in order to get parental attention.
>
> Anyway, I find the language thing really hard to break.
>
> Anyone else deal with this?
poster:JenStar
thread:369475
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040723/msgs/369989.html