Posted by gardenergirl on July 28, 2005, at 21:07:02
In reply to Re: Lott, Obvious question, posted by deborah anne lott on July 28, 2005, at 20:38:46
>I'd be curious to know what kind of therapy those of you who feel the transference has been handled badly were/are in? Was the model cognitive behavioral or more psychodynamic/psychoanalytic?
I spent 8 1/2 years with a CBT therapist. She taught me a lot, but I didn't really get "better". She was concerned with my "dependence" and tried to work on that by forcing me to be more independent by reducing sessions. The last months that I spent with her I was sure that she was mad at me, and that I wasn't doing "the right thing" in therapy. I expended enormous energy trying this and that to try to find out what I should be doing so that she wouldn't be mad at me. She kept talking about reducing sessions. Finally, I became very suicidal and decided that as much as I couldn't live without her, I wouldn't live if I stayed with with her, either.
I switched (with much agony) to a psychodynamic therapist. Within 6 weeks, we were in the same transference situation - I was sure that he was mad and that I was failing therapy. Within a handful of sessions I could understand and believe that he wasn't mad at me.
So, yes, transference happens in CBT. But my CBT therapist was completely unaware of how I was feeling (I know this because I asked her if she knew how much agony I had been in for the previous months and she said no). And unable to help me with it.
CBT is very helpful for some people, and when it is a good match, I think it is a wonderful therapy. But in my case, the transference was handled much more helpfully by my psychodynamic therapist.
poster:gardenergirl
thread:534691
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050725/msgs/535056.html