Posted by fallsfall on February 9, 2006, at 7:57:43
In reply to Re: Up and down and up and down and... » annierose, posted by Dinah on February 8, 2006, at 21:43:55
(((Dinah)))
The up and down could be because he keeps vascillating between being the therapist and the patient. You were so right to tell him that you would be allowed to be devistated by termination BECAUSE you are the patient.
While I understand your peace at knowing that he won't terminate you for any reason, he is being unethical. A therapist is REQUIRED to refer a patient on when the therapist is no longer able to help the patient (and "not hurting" the patient doesn't qualify). He is abdicating his responsibility and asking you to be the therapist, just like your parents asked you to be a grownup.
This reminds me so strongly of my first therapist - I believe that she was *afraid* to refer me on. Afraid because of what my reaction would be. Therapists *hurt* us when they are afraid of us. I hope that you can stop being hurt.
Dinah, it is time to figure out how you are going to get out of this therapy. He is not going to help you do this - in fact he has shown that he will make it more difficult for you. I know that this is an impossibly hard thing for you to do, but you have already come an awfully long way in the healthy direction. I think that you know that this is what you need to do. Can you start to shift from "how can I stay in this therapy" to "how can I plan for the future"? Can you start to envision how your life could thrive without this therapy?
I'm so sorry, Dinah. But you need to take care of yourself, because he isn't taking care of you.
poster:fallsfall
thread:606808
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060131/msgs/607890.html