Posted by Dinah on June 4, 2006, at 9:13:31
In reply to Competitive? Me? » fairywings, posted by Tamar on June 4, 2006, at 6:19:44
Hmmm... I don't consider myself particularly competitive. Well, not since school anyway.
But I have the same reaction. I'm not sure it's competitiveness. I think it's just that some authority figures have trouble conceding that they may possibly be wrong, and I react to that. I like to think I'm polite but firm, but perhaps I'm not.
One thing I like about my therapist is that he's always willing to concede he may be wrong about just about everything. He may not be willing to do things my way. But he'll concede that while he believes he's correct, it's always possible he's wrong.
It's like taking away the wall I'm pushing against. I stumble forward and generally will entertain the possibility that he's correct. Then we can have a real discussion of the merits of each of our positions.
Maybe you should point out that you aren't trying to compete with him in his area of expertise, you're just trying to get him to recognize that while he has expertise in psychology, you have expertise in yourself, and all you want is to have a relationship where both of your expertise is recognized so that you can work cooperatively to best address the issues.
Of course, biofeedback guy never got that. And pdoc1 never got that. I hope your therapist can get that. (If I'm stating it correctly, of course. If not, I hope he can get whatever is the correct explanation.)
poster:Dinah
thread:651085
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060604/msgs/652707.html