Posted by emmanuel98 on February 7, 2009, at 19:06:25
In reply to Re: Developmental stages in therapy » DAisym, posted by lucie lu on February 7, 2009, at 18:03:30
I have gone through developmental stages in 4 years of therapy with my T (who is also my p-doc). At first I thought about him all the time, literally every moment of the day. I could barely imagine functioning without the thought of him. He compared this to a small child who needs to reassure itself of its care-givers presence.
I got through that stage and it was painful. I thought it would never end, but it did.
I went through a stage of idealizing him so much that I wanted to chuck everything and become a therapist like him. I got past that too.
I am just now starting to feel like I can venture out on my own without him. I've been wanting to give him things -- offer him gifts, make him proud of me. I feel sort of like a school-age child must feel toward a loving Daddy (something I never had)
I've just begun to accept that our relationship is limited. I've known this, but couldn't accept it. I found the thought to painful to entertain.So it does get better. We do grow emotionally in therapy. But it takes a long time and it hurts like hell.
poster:emmanuel98
thread:878656
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20090129/msgs/878805.html