Posted by Dr. Bob on February 28, 2004, at 15:38:04
In reply to Ms. Schmidt: Question » Dr. Bob, posted by noa on February 25, 2004, at 19:39:50
Generally, the first line of recourse regarding any questionable intervention by the therapist is to talk with the therapist about it. Certainly you can say that you are confused by the therapist's statement or behavior and ask them to clarify it. If this kind of discussion is not satisfactory or if it doesn't feel possible, I would recommend a consultation with another therapist. The purpose of the consultation is to review the experiences in therapy and discuss whether the therapy is progressing, whether boundaries violations have occurred, whether they are harmful boundary violations or reparable boundary violations, and to decide how to proceed. These kinds of consultations are not that unusual and many senior clinicians are usually available for this purpose.
I would emphasize that concerns about therapy should be addressed, even though it may be difficult, and that if someone is wondering about the legitimacy of actions or statements, those wonderings should be taken seriously.
Erika Schmidt, LCSW
poster:Dr. Bob
thread:316851
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040225/msgs/318569.html