Posted by diane on April 28, 1999, at 12:46:12
In reply to Re:Therapy Relationship, posted by anne on April 17, 1999, at 20:49:51
I have just become a therapist, have one more year left in my graduate program, and hope to offer some insight. Something that has been stressed in our program is that there are parts of being a therapist that cannot be taught. I feel that it has to do a lot with personality. If a person does not truly care about the welfare of others and a pure desire to want to work with them to help them be more satisfied with their lives, they will probably not be an effective therapist. Also remember that therapists are just people who have been trained to utilize therapeutic techniques and frameworks to help others. We are still people and when presented with deep emotions it is difficult not to empathize and really be involved with the other person's emotions. In a non-therapeutic setting, most of us would be touched by the emotions of another, so it should only seem logical that a therapist would as well. I would not say that it is a magical manipulation. It seems that your therapist is just an emotional, empathetic person who happens to be your therapist. I hope that is helpful to give you a little perspective from "the other side". Good Luck with everything!!
poster:diane
thread:4985
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990401/msgs/5403.html