Posted by deirdrehbrt on April 17, 2004, at 22:42:04
In reply to Re: the inconsistent therapist - paltiel, posted by fallsfall on April 17, 2004, at 22:02:02
I have worked with a number of therapists, at least six. I had one who was never inconsistent, but then again, she never said anything. She was mostly a parrot. There was no conversation except rephrasing my statement as a question. There was nothing in what she said to help me explore or understand. She was also quite young.
I have worked with two who I consider to be exceptional, and I'm currently with one of them. Both of these people have extensive experience with trauma and child abuse, both of which have influenced me greatly. Both of them have at least 30 years of experience, and one teaches at a fairly local college.
One of these I consider to be very consistent. I have only witnessed one mistake, and when she noticed it, she apologized. This mistake was that I first started seeing her for gender identity disorder, and during that time, I had to have at least one joke per session. I was always in a good mood when I saw her. I was always jovial. She never called me on the humor.
I left her for a time to see the other really good therapist. With her, there was a dual relationship starting, where she would make use of my typing skills, and programming skills in exchange for therapy. Still, I never noticed anything that seemed overtly inconsistent. I began though to have, or rather notice, some hallucinations. It affected my driving, and as she was some distance away with no transit busses available, I needed to see someone closer.
I went back to the previous therapist. This is where the inconsistency, or error became apparent to her. I had at this point been hospitalized for depression. She realized that my good mood and humor were defense mechanisms. Thinking, at first that the only issue was the gender identity problem, she didn't look very hard for more. I think though that had she, I would have still would have kept the other issues from her. Not because I wanted to, but because I wasn't supposed to be sick. She promised to not let me get away with anything this time. I love her.
Dee.
poster:deirdrehbrt
thread:337151
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040409/msgs/337300.html