Posted by lucie lu on February 20, 2009, at 14:01:06
In reply to I feel really needy right now...., posted by obsidian on February 19, 2009, at 20:45:36
Sounds like you need hugs, not smacks, Sid.
For many of us, the intense neediness and dependency feelings that arise during therapy feel threatening and/or humiliating. It can feel like an invitation to be picked up and held, only to then be dropped. One of the major goals of therapy can be to work through these fears.
When I used to need to call my T for weekend check-ins, he would always agree. But that wouldn't satisfy me and I would persist: "Are you sure? Wouldn't you rather avoid doing therapy on your time off, I don't want to intrude on your weekend" etc. After months of enduring this from me, he finally said with some exasperation, "Lucie, do you know how old I am? I am x years old. By this time, I know what I want or don't want to do. It is insulting to me for someone to think that I don't know my own mind." That shut me up. But I felt less insecure after that about the phone calls because his exasperated statement reached me in a way that his gentler reassurances had been unable to. Sometimes I guess I do respond better to a 2x4 whack to the head ;)
Lucie
poster:lucie lu
thread:881187
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20090214/msgs/881331.html