Posted by Rigby on March 17, 2006, at 10:41:36
Hello,
I wanted to get people's take on therapist's revealing stuff about themselves.
My therapist is (was??) **really** careful about saying anything to me about herself. She feels she got too involved with me a while back, pulled back and has very strict boundaries ever since. Until lately.
Example. About a month ago I told her I read a book on ending therapy. She asked the name and author. When I came in last night she said, "I got the book." Note: she finally confessed about a month ago that she was reading books I was reading but that she didn't tell me about it. Huh.
Anyway, she then went on to tell me that she was thinking of ending *her* therapy (with her therapist) upon reading the book.
Later on in the session, when I was discussing anxiety, she added that she, too, is a high strung person--that she's wired similarly. Huh???
And then when I asked her if she'd ever taken Xanax she nearly blew a gasket, "What are you asking me here?"
I said she told me she was high strung and I wanted to get her take on the drug since she brought it up.
She said that she never has had a panic attack. I said, "Lucky you."
I feel sorta weird about this. This is the therapist who was gay and went straight and got married and had a kid. Oddddddly I was gay and fell in love with a man this past year so it's like this very very strange thing. I don't *know* how alike she and I are because I don't know her. But she knows me. It's like I'm not privvy to something. She also mistakenly used her husband's name when talking about my boyfriend. I had to pretend I didn't notice as I'm not supposed to even know her husband's name. I'm sure she'd freak if she knew I knew it.
UGH. Anyway, I don't quite get the boundary thing with her. I feel that she struggles with me and that it's awkward. Lately she's been telling me other stuff too--a few weeks ago that she has issues with people thinking she's a know-it-all (she's not, not at all)--it was w/in the context of my therapy but what's with all the self-revelation lately??
For being so intensely tight-lipped for years, in one session I learned that she's thinking of ending her therapy, that she's high strung and that she's never had a panic attack.
I would prefer a therapist who was looser, personally, than her so I suppose it's fine. It's just this change from her these past few weeks has been a bit odd.
Any insight???
Rigby
poster:Rigby
thread:621273
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060312/msgs/621273.html