Posted by abe123 on June 24, 2006, at 0:30:02
In reply to I asked about my T's hug policy, posted by All Done on June 19, 2006, at 15:52:54
This is ironic, because my psychology prof. (also a clinical therapist) was talking about this very issue today in class. He told us about this client he had who hugged him as she was leaving their third appointment, just out of the blue, and he accepted it but told her after she pulled away: "This was inappropriate. The next time you're here we'll spend the session talking about when and with whom things like this are appropriate."
They went on to spend several sessions talking about her social skills and probing why she felt the need to hug him. They came to the decision that it was "childhood regression" and that she was making pretend that he was her father (her father abused her when she was young). I think that's just silly. A hug is a hug is a show of affection.
He didn't mention this to us in class, but I imagine the implications of a female hugging a male authority figure are ambiguously sexual.I'm sure every T has a different "hug policy" and it was wise that you asked him first.
poster:abe123
thread:658771
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060623/msgs/660835.html