Posted by emmanuel98 on July 23, 2009, at 21:29:23
In reply to Re: how does your therapist dress?, posted by antigua3 on July 23, 2009, at 12:02:49
My p-doc wears chinos and a blue or white or blue and white striped dress shirt. Long sleeves in cooler weather, short sleeves in the summer. This never varies from spring to fall. With this he wears soft tan loafers and nice socks. His socks are always interesting, fashionable even. The only variable in his mild weather wardrobe.
During the winters he wears black or grey corduroys and a dress shirt, also usually blue or white, sometimes covered over with a fleece vest or crew neck sweater.
He is always neat and clean. I once asked him if he purposely dressed a certain way and he said, not really. But, he said, he does work quite a bit with children and adolescents and it's important not to be too formal. He once worked at a large group practice and said he always wore a tie then because it was the norm. I asked him if he owned any shirts that weren't blue or white and he said, a lot, actually.
It used to alarm me if he varied his dress -- the first time I saw him in corduroys, it made me upset -- like he had a closet full of clothes that I was unaware of -- how little I knew of him. I actually cried and started having dreams of him as this preson unknown to me in all these elaborate outfits -- silk brocade dressing gowns, dark blue power suits. In these dreams, he was always inaccessible to me.
He has two watches -- one with a black band and one with a brown band. The brown band goes with the chinos and brown loafers; the black band with the corduroys. I know so little about him, so I have memorized the details of his dress. I find his predictability very comforting.
My DBT therapist dresses casually but professionally, slacks and a blouse with a sweater. In the warm weather, she wears knee-length skirts and shows a lot of leg. But she is a woman near my own age and this doesn't bother me. I have never had transference issues with her, so I don't obsess so much on what she wears. In the summer, she sometimes wears backless sandals which will slip off her foot. I don't mind. I do the same thing.
poster:emmanuel98
thread:908083
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20090706/msgs/908252.html