Posted by emmanuel98 on January 23, 2012, at 21:15:06
In reply to Re: I'm upset about an exchange with my therapist » Dinah, posted by Anemone on January 23, 2012, at 18:57:13
Well, he does have other clients. He must. He couldn't pay for his office or live on his earnings if he didn't. My p-doc has never been shy about this or encouraged me to feel that I am the only one. When I've gotten upset about whether he cares about me, he says he does. He cares about all his clients. You're not the only one, you know. I know I'm not. I try not to think about that. Irvin Yalom wrote this essay -- many patients, one therapist. Hard to accept, but we all know it to be true. I got upset once about this because I compared it to teaching college. I have many students. They ask me for things and I forget, because I have 90 or more a semester. My p-doc said therapy is not the same. You see 25 -30 patients a week, sometimes less (in his case less because he is semi-retired) and spend an hour with them a week or sometimes twice a week. You really get to know and care about them and remember everything.
You worry, Dinah, about cutting back sessions, but really, after all this time, do you need to see him twice a week? Why not once a week? My p-doc never wanted to do more than once a week. He said more than that would be too intense and make me too dependent on him. I think he was correct in this. I needed to learn to develop and improve and rely on other relationships. The goal is not to see a therapist indefinitely, but to grow, change, move away. This is hard. Harder than I had expected. But I do understand that this is the point, the reality, the reason for the relationship in the first place.
poster:emmanuel98
thread:1008146
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20111220/msgs/1008241.html