Posted by rnny on October 12, 2009, at 21:22:55
Hello, and thank you for your help.
My question has to do with the psychologist I am seeing. I had been in counseling for about 5 years with a clinical social worker. She retired and I continued with a psychologist in her office which comprises of quite a few mental health professionals. In my work with the social worker, we determined that it would be in my best interest if I had no contact with my mother. This was after a number of years of events that took place and much talking and discussion. It was not an overnight decision. I did stop seeing my mother and hadn't seen her for 8 months when I started to see her again because I was of the impression she was moving out of state and since she is in her 80's I thought I might not see her again. Now I have found out she is not moving after all as something came up to prevent the move. I told my new therapist who I have been seeing for about 2 months about the work my old therapist and I had done about my relationship with my mother and the decision that it was in my best interest not to have contact with her. However the new therapist does not support my old therapist's point of view and hence is not supporting me in something I worked very hard to get to. She says she is not going to tell me what to and what not to do, that I have to decide. Isn't it incumbent upon a new therapist to kind of pick up and take off where the old therapist left with the client? I worked very hard with the first therapist. To tell the new therapist about the reasons why I chose not to see my mother and not have her support me rather than tell me it is my decision makes me believe she does not have a grasp of the situation and how damaging it was for me to be in contact with my mother. Shouldn't she be supporting me and backing me up with the work I did with the former therapist? PS: One other thing and it might not seem like a big deal. The new therapist won't talk to me in the hallway as we walk to her office. She says she doesn't believe in talking to her clients in the hallway (we have to walk past about 9 offices to get to her's, it is a long hallway) because we will talk once we get in the office and she also says she doesn't believe in asking the client "how are you" in the hallway because she already knows how they are all, afterall that is why they are coming for therapy. So we walk silently to her office, and I do mean silently with me following her from behind which makes me feel very uncomfortable. I would like your comments on the both of these things. I already know I have the option of seeing another therapist however I would really like some feedback about the two things I mentioned. That is where my real need is. Thank you.
poster:rnny
thread:920723
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20090907/msgs/920723.html