Posted by gardenergirl on September 6, 2004, at 20:08:09
In reply to Re: confession regarding therapist... » Pandabear, posted by Dinah on September 6, 2004, at 19:50:25
I'm in the camp that you did no wrong, especially because you intended no harm and were acting out of your own needs. In my opionion, that is definitely fodder for therapy, but as others have said, it's hard to know how your therapist would react. It seems they have different levels of comfort about privacy. Still, I agree with LG04 that this seems to be an attempt to try to internalize her, which makes a lot of sense right now.
Termination or even cutting back is so darned hard. Even if you feel really ready, the nature of the therapeutic relationship almost guarantees a feeling of some kind of loss. I am assuming that my own termination will be bittersweet. I know I've felt that with many of the clients I saw for a year or so last year. There was one in particular I really thought I could be friends with. I don't know if she felt that way too, but it made it really hard to terminate for me, and I spent time in supervision processing my feelings with my supervisor about this.
I also know that if I were not my T's client, we would likely have a colleagial relationship. I know I would really like him as a a fellow therapist and perhaps a friend, although he is somewhat older than me. I know I will need to spend a great deal of time on this with him at the end. If he had acknowledged similar feelings early into the therapy relationship, I think I would obsess about that, too. And I think it would hurt more. That being said, I kind of hope he says something like that in the end. We'll see.
It's so darned complex, isn't it? Even if it's a natural termination, which is supposed to be the best kind, it still is a loss to process.
Take care,
gg
poster:gardenergirl
thread:387227
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040905/msgs/387337.html