Posted by Dinah on March 26, 2007, at 9:06:41
In reply to I overreact - do you?, posted by DisTraught on March 26, 2007, at 5:57:59
Well, unless I also overreact, I don't think you overreacted at all. I know therapists sometimes use "tough love" to shake a client out of a rut, and I even know that it works with some clients.
But it by absolutely no means works with all clients, and I see absolutely no way a therapist would know by the third session if it would be useful for you. And it is a very confident therapist who assumes he knows by the third session everything about you, or enough about you to be so blunt.
I imagine that given the constraints of insurance company rules, that he feels like he needs to have a quick therapy that produces maximum results. I feel for him being caught in such an unpleasant situation but I feel more for you.
The best I can say is that he probably helps some clients, while unfortunately hurting others.
BTW, what's so darn bad about reading books? Researching something new before you do it seems wise, not abnormal, to me.
I don't think you overreacted or are overly sensitive. I think your therapist might have overreacted and been insensitive. These are supposedly professionals. It's only natural that we should put extra weight on what they say, even if we also realize that they may not be correct.
Can you find someone with a different approach for the remaining sessions?
BTW, after a few sessions with a therapist somewhat like that, I asked him if he thought he could work with me given the feelings he apparently had for me. He turned it around and asked if I thought I could work for him given the feelings I apparently had for him. I told him perhaps, but I couldn't work with someone who behaved the way he did to me, and I walked out. Which was a shame since he was the only practitioner of biofeedback in the area. But the results were getting messed up because he was so... direct. He'd walk in and my physical feedback would go off the charts and he'd fuss at me for it. Then he'd insult me or my therapist. I suppose it *might* have been a part of the training. Introduce an aversive element and see if they could control the physical responses. But he should have waited a few sessions until I got better at it before introducing such a challenge.
poster:Dinah
thread:744287
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20070324/msgs/744300.html