Posted by simcha on December 3, 2004, at 19:00:17
In reply to Re: Babble Guide to Therapists: Do's and Don'ts, posted by multitask on December 3, 2004, at 11:34:14
This is a wonderful list.
Currently I'm a Marriage and Family Therapist Trainee in California. I'm in my 3rd and final year of my MA in Counseling Psychology Specializing in Transpersonal Psychology.
This list is very useful and it's stuff I'm hearing in my training. So, that's telling me that my training center is really good.
On self-disclosure: What we are taught is to not disclose at first with new clients. We are taught to be very conservative about self-disclosure... That therapist that disclosed, "I've had a bad weekend so don't give me any cr*p." was WAY out of line.
What I've been taught, and how I practice is that I will only disclose if it is somehow relevant to the client's treatment at the moment I'm disclosing. I also have to be careful about how much I disclose when I disclose. I have to make sure that it is for the benefit of the client and not just my own counter transferential need to disclose.
Thus, as you can see, I disclose very little at all. It's very rare for me to disclose. Then again I've only been seeing clients for three months now so my style will change most likely. I think I will ALWAYS be careful about self-disclosure.
Thanks, all of you for letting us know who are in the profession what we should be doing. It really helps. Of course, I'm a client too. I've been in therapy for ten years and on medication for Major Depressive Disorder with Recurrent features for about four years now. So I know what it's like to sit on in the other chair. It's very strange sitting in the therapist's chair after all these years. And I've learned alot about what to do and what not to do from therapists I've seen.
My school places a high value on self-work. That's why they require that students seek out therapy while they are in school, especially when starting to see clients. This requirement for me was a no brainer since I know I couldn't do this without the support of therapy.
Blessings and Thanks!
Simcha
poster:simcha
thread:420851
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20041203/msgs/424114.html