![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 201 to 225 of 283. Go back in thread:
Posted by gardenergirl on June 11, 2005, at 12:01:42
In reply to Re: Chapter 4 - I need to catch up. :( (nm), posted by Dinah on June 11, 2005, at 10:43:36
Posted by littleone on June 11, 2005, at 18:36:32
In reply to Chapter 3.The Therapist's Power, posted by Dinah on May 29, 2005, at 9:48:25
Chapter 3 was a big one for me. In my head, I know a lot of these things are completely wrong, but below are my beliefs about my T's power:
He has the power to make me feel good or bad.
He knows how therapy works. He knows how far along the therapy process I am, what I can expect next. Knowledge is power.
He knows how to fix me. He knows what my faulty beliefs are. When we talk about an issue, he knows a lot more than what he shares.
He has control over the whole therapy process. It seems like he tries to give me control by directing what we talk about, but he knows that I would talk about anything *he* wants to.
He has the power to make *anything* therapeautic. I could go in wanting to talk about lamps/aardvarks/Bruce Springsteen and he could still make it a therapeautic session.
I don't blindly follow his advice, but I'm highly suggestable by him. He has that power over me.
He controls what I know about him. He knows more about me than I know about him.
He knows the secrets of life. All the answers. He knows how to be happy.
He knows what "healthy" is like.
I need him to like/love me. He couldn't care less what I thought of him.
I am one client of many.
He can see things in me that I can't.
I need to fit into his schedule. His busyness decides if I can see him extra or not. Regardless of my perceived need.
He controls the boundaries.
He's always cool, calm and collected. I react strongly to things.
Every single word he utters has huge power.
He can see more clearly how much I have/haven't progressed.
He knows my "tells". I am unable to lie or hide from him.
He has the power to hurt or heal me. That's a biggy.
Posted by annierose on June 12, 2005, at 6:50:23
In reply to Re: Chapter 3.The Therapist's Power, posted by littleone on June 11, 2005, at 18:36:32
To quote Glenda, the good witch
"You had the power all along."Yes, therapists are important figures in one's life. But don't forget about you! From your list, I was surprised how much "power" you give your T. It's your therapy.
Posted by pegasus on June 15, 2005, at 16:33:53
In reply to Re: Chapter 4 and approximate relationships, posted by annierose on June 10, 2005, at 21:28:17
Thanks for pointing out her use of the term approximate relationship. I think this might be the most clear explanation for the term that she provides. I guess it is meant to indicate that the therapy relationship is limited or lacking. Frankly, I don't really like framing it that way. I disagree that the relationship is approximating anything else. It can bring up things from other relationships, but it is really an approximation of them? I liked my definition better. :)
pegasus
Posted by Dinah on June 16, 2005, at 17:43:46
In reply to Re: Chapter 4, posted by messadivoce on June 8, 2005, at 21:05:07
Posted by Dinah on June 16, 2005, at 17:45:41
In reply to Re: Chapter 4 and approximate relationships » annierose, posted by pegasus on June 15, 2005, at 16:33:53
I agree. I tend to think it's a therapeutic relationship. As different and well defined as a friendship relationship, or a love relationship, or a family relationship. It's special in itself.
Posted by Dinah on June 16, 2005, at 17:51:12
In reply to Chapter 4, posted by pegasus on June 8, 2005, at 8:46:17
I have always liked this chapter. I think it did help me figure out how and why the boundaries came to be where they are. One of my favorite stories in the book comes from this chapter, where the therapist offers her sweater. And one of the saddest, where the therapist asks for a hug when he's upset, then calls the client greedy when she wants to continue them.
I generally like my therapist's boundaries. He's not really strict with some of them. I know his wife's name and child's name. I don't think that was on purpose, but once he called them by name once, I guess he figured it was silly and obvious to go back to impersonal ways of referring to them. I know bits of his life and his history. Generally the facts come up in the course of my therapy.
Right now I think the boundaries are working against me. I'm having trouble connecting, and the boundaries aren't helping any.
But in general, I like the way Lott explains them as being for our benefit as well as theirs.
But......
I guess I dislike the idea, however sensible, that my therapist needs protection from me, or that he wouldn't be able to maintain our relationship without those boundaries.
Posted by Dinah on June 19, 2005, at 21:15:19
In reply to Re: Chapter 4 - Boundaries, posted by Dinah on June 16, 2005, at 17:51:12
That was my favorite message from this chapter. That transference is not a therapy limited phenomenon. By discussing how the same thing is at work in other relationships in our lives, it takes the idea out of that nasty place that therapists seem to place it when they dismiss our feelings as transference. (Especially if they just so happen to be uncomfortable or defensive at the moment.)
Yeah, maybe so, and so what?
Many of our feelings toward many people in our lives contain elements of transference. That doesn't make them any less real.
I don't think it's possible to deny that transference exists. I remember her story at the beginning of the chapter about the three women going to see the same female therapist, and the different person each described. It made me smile.
You only need to look at the Admin board to see how different people see Dr. Bob. He gives us such limited information about himself, and different people build different visions of who he is based on that limited information, and doubtless also based on past experiences with people in authority, or people with similar styles, or who knows what other of the limited characteristics he objectively displays. The same thing happened with my favorite professor in college. He was as good as a Rorschach test. People described him completely differently, probably based more on them than him.
I know that there are one or two personal characteristics that can turn me off a person entirely because I base my opinion about their entire personality on that. Totally unfair of me.
The one thing she mentioned briefly, and maybe she gets back to later, is the role of the therapeutic situation in developing transference.
My personal opinion is that human brains are programmed to respond in certain ways to certain types of relationships. And therapy mimics other relationships. Since we haven't had therapy for millenia, or long enough to develop ingrained responses to the therapeutic situation, our brains respond as they might to similar situations.
So IMHO, a major cause for erotic transferences is the similarity of therapy to love relationships. There is increasing intimate disclosure (however one sided), acceptance, the listening and attentive posture most closely associated with a lover. I think it's sort of normal for erotic feelings to crop up in those circumstances because our brains are programmed to respond that way.
It can also mimic a parental relationship in some ways. Especially in the lack of reciprocity. And we can respond in the ways that are programmed in us to respond as children to parents.
Maybe our life circumstances can influence which of the ways we respond. My erotic potential is very stunted, so I would respond as a child to a parent.
I'm not sure if I buy into the analytic transference models. It's possible I guess.
Posted by Tamar on June 20, 2005, at 5:03:02
In reply to Ch 5 - Transference, Not Just for Therapy Anymore, posted by Dinah on June 19, 2005, at 21:15:19
> That was my favorite message from this chapter. That transference is not a therapy limited phenomenon. By discussing how the same thing is at work in other relationships in our lives, it takes the idea out of that nasty place that therapists seem to place it when they dismiss our feelings as transference. (Especially if they just so happen to be uncomfortable or defensive at the moment.)
Yeah, I agree. It’s made me think quite a bit about where transference happens outside therapy. For example I’ve always said that when I met my husband it was love at first sight, and now I realise how much of that was transference (but he did turn out to be a honey!). And I can see how my students might be affected by transference towards me, which helps me a lot, particularly if they’re annoyed about something.
> I know that there are one or two personal characteristics that can turn me off a person entirely because I base my opinion about their entire personality on that. Totally unfair of me.
And yet those are real feelings. It’s not like you can just switch them off. Besides, transference can be quite useful in helping people judge which kinds of people they’re likely to get along with (or not). Despite its apparent shortcomings, transference can work quite well as shorthand when getting to know new people.
> My personal opinion is that human brains are programmed to respond in certain ways to certain types of relationships. And therapy mimics other relationships. Since we haven't had therapy for millenia, or long enough to develop ingrained responses to the therapeutic situation, our brains respond as they might to similar situations.
Yes, I agree. And if our brains start recognising the therapeutic relationship as distinctive, maybe it won’t be so therapeutic any more!
> So IMHO, a major cause for erotic transferences is the similarity of therapy to love relationships. There is increasing intimate disclosure (however one sided), acceptance, the listening and attentive posture most closely associated with a lover. I think it's sort of normal for erotic feelings to crop up in those circumstances because our brains are programmed to respond that way.
Yes, and I also think it might have a lot to do with the reasons we’re in therapy (maybe that’s what you mean by life circumstances below?). In my case perhaps it’s about erotic potential that’s been neglected… or something like that.
> It can also mimic a parental relationship in some ways. Especially in the lack of reciprocity. And we can respond in the ways that are programmed in us to respond as children to parents.
>
> Maybe our life circumstances can influence which of the ways we respond. My erotic potential is very stunted, so I would respond as a child to a parent.I wonder about this. I wonder if it could go either way. Either a person who doesn’t experience much erotic inclination for others would experience no erotic transference in therapy, or that person might find that the therapeutic relationship is the one place where erotic feelings could develop. I suppose the latter possibility depends on the idea that erotic feelings can be deeply repressed. What struck me about this chapter is that it’s so hard to pin down the reasons why a person might have a particular kind of transference in a particular therapeutic relationship!
> I'm not sure if I buy into the analytic transference models. It's possible I guess.
Do you mean all that oedipal and pre-oedipal stuff? I think I’m willing to accept that there may be some basis in truth there, but I think its significance has often been rather overstated.
I liked the chapter on transference because although I knew it was normal, it was very helpful to read about different ways it could work. And I was particularly glad to see Lott call for some serious scientific enquiry into transference.
Posted by Dinah on June 21, 2005, at 0:09:25
In reply to Re: Ch 5 - Transference, Not Just for Therapy Anymore » Dinah, posted by Tamar on June 20, 2005, at 5:03:02
> > I know that there are one or two personal characteristics that can turn me off a person entirely because I base my opinion about their entire personality on that. Totally unfair of me.
>
> And yet those are real feelings. It’s not like you can just switch them off. Besides, transference can be quite useful in helping people judge which kinds of people they’re likely to get along with (or not). Despite its apparent shortcomings, transference can work quite well as shorthand when getting to know new people.Yes, it can. That's true. But if I use the wrong characteristics to judge people by, I might lose out on getting to know a lot of terrific people.
> > My personal opinion is that human brains are programmed to respond in certain ways to certain types of relationships. And therapy mimics other relationships. Since we haven't had therapy for millenia, or long enough to develop ingrained responses to the therapeutic situation, our brains respond as they might to similar situations.
>
> Yes, I agree. And if our brains start recognising the therapeutic relationship as distinctive, maybe it won’t be so therapeutic any more!
>
Yes, possibly. :) But since I am a big fan of supportive psychotherapy, I have a special fondness for therapy as a unique sort of valuable relationship.
> > So IMHO, a major cause for erotic transferences is the similarity of therapy to love relationships. There is increasing intimate disclosure (however one sided), acceptance, the listening and attentive posture most closely associated with a lover. I think it's sort of normal for erotic feelings to crop up in those circumstances because our brains are programmed to respond that way.
>
> Yes, and I also think it might have a lot to do with the reasons we’re in therapy (maybe that’s what you mean by life circumstances below?). In my case perhaps it’s about erotic potential that’s been neglected… or something like that.
>
> > It can also mimic a parental relationship in some ways. Especially in the lack of reciprocity. And we can respond in the ways that are programmed in us to respond as children to parents.
> >
> > Maybe our life circumstances can influence which of the ways we respond. My erotic potential is very stunted, so I would respond as a child to a parent.
>
> I wonder about this. I wonder if it could go either way. Either a person who doesn’t experience much erotic inclination for others would experience no erotic transference in therapy, or that person might find that the therapeutic relationship is the one place where erotic feelings could develop. I suppose the latter possibility depends on the idea that erotic feelings can be deeply repressed. What struck me about this chapter is that it’s so hard to pin down the reasons why a person might have a particular kind of transference in a particular therapeutic relationship!Yes, I guess that's something that is best explored in therapy. What did strike me was that some women found themselves having similar transferences with all their therapists, while others had different ones with different therapists, and none at all with some. Which could have at least two possible causes, I suppose. Perhaps the women who all had the same sort of transference always sought out the same sort of therapist. Or perhaps they are especially strongly programmed to respond in a certain way.
I've seen several mental health professionals over my lifetime. Not all therapists. But the most common feeling I had in this admittedly small sample was intense dislike. Then a few that I felt discomfort with for one reason or another, but not dislike. And exactly two (well, maybe three depending on definitions) that I had positive feelings about. Hmmmm... wonder what that says about me?
> > I'm not sure if I buy into the analytic transference models. It's possible I guess.
>
> Do you mean all that oedipal and pre-oedipal stuff? I think I’m willing to accept that there may be some basis in truth there, but I think its significance has often been rather overstated.I think partly it's because analytic concepts are like trigonometry to me. I can grasp them momentarily, but I can't get a firm hold on them and they flitter away from me.
> I liked the chapter on transference because although I knew it was normal, it was very helpful to read about different ways it could work. And I was particularly glad to see Lott call for some serious scientific enquiry into transference.
Yes. I remember the most useful part of this book to me when I first began reading it was learning what I didn't feel for my therapist. :) It would be great if researchers put greater efforts into understanding it. Thus far those who are most likely to want well defined research studies are also those who have been most likely to dismiss transference altogether. Perhaps as it becomes clear that transference happens whether you encourage it or not, it will be considered a more legitimate phenomenon to study.
Posted by Jazzed on June 21, 2005, at 2:42:17
In reply to Ch 5 - Transference, Not Just for Therapy Anymore, posted by Dinah on June 19, 2005, at 21:15:19
Ooooo, this is really interesting - the way you interpret things. You are a real thinker. I never have deep thoughts like these. I love your take on transference, and how the brain is programmed, will have to save these comments. They make so much more sense to me than some ludicrous desire to have an erotic relationship with my father!
Jazzy
Posted by Dinah on June 21, 2005, at 6:23:54
In reply to Re: Ch 5 - Transference, Not Just for Therapy Anymore » Dinah, posted by Jazzed on June 21, 2005, at 2:42:17
It's not original thought. I just don't know where to credit the source. :) I read so much, and if I like an idea I squirrel it away.
Posted by Jazzed on June 21, 2005, at 7:11:30
In reply to Re: Ch 5 - Transference, Not Just for Therapy Anym » Jazzed, posted by Dinah on June 21, 2005, at 6:23:54
> It's not original thought. I just don't know where to credit the source. :) I read so much, and if I like an idea I squirrel it away.
LOL, well at least you can take credit for remembering! I can't remember anything these days!Jazzy
Posted by pegasus on June 21, 2005, at 9:01:14
In reply to Ch 5 - Transference, Not Just for Therapy Anymore, posted by Dinah on June 19, 2005, at 21:15:19
> You only need to look at the Admin board to see how different people see Dr. Bob. He gives us such limited information about himself, and different people build different visions of who he is based on that limited information, and doubtless also based on past experiences with people in authority, or people with similar styles, or who knows what other of the limited characteristics he objectively displays.Yes, exactly. It's fascinating. I've always been amazed at the people to conclude that Dr. Bob is a malevolent or at least neglectful person. The way I see him is so caring. But who knows what he really thinks of everything. The truth is that he doesn't say much, and what he does say is usually about operation of the site. So we're putting our own interpretations on him.
I also completely agree about the nature of transference often being due to the similarity of the therapeutic relationship to other types of relationships. I always thought that any erotic feelings must be due to the intimate nature of the conversations, which I've only had in romantic relationships before. Because, frankly, my ex-T was never my type, romantically speaking. We're all pattern seeking animals, us humans, so when we recognize part of the romantic pattern, I think we tend to lump in all of the other parts, too.
Same for the parental transference, although I think it can be more instinctual than conscious. Mammals have instincts, or brain wiring, or whatever you want to call it, that encourage us to attach to safe others in a child-parent way. Come to think of it, maybe the same is true for romantic relationships. In other words, maybe it's more than pattern seeking. Maybe it's also physiological.
I don't buy the whole oedipal business at all. It just does not make sense to me. And it seems as though it is based on Freud's ideas, more than on any real evidence. It just seems like such a complicated scenario to believe on the basis of one brilliant guy's notion.
pegasus
Posted by Dinah on June 22, 2005, at 2:01:33
In reply to Re: Ch 5 - Transference, Not Just for Therapy Anym, posted by pegasus on June 21, 2005, at 9:01:14
I really do think it's got physiological underpinnings. Evolutionary purpose.
I wonder if anyone has studied the possibility.
Posted by Dinah on June 27, 2005, at 21:47:08
In reply to Re: Ch 5 - Transference, Not Just for Therapy Anym » pegasus, posted by Dinah on June 22, 2005, at 2:01:33
There were some interesting stories in this chapter.
I must be in the mood to apply everything I read to myself and my therapy. In evaluating the overall message, that ideally therapists will take a middle ground on the concept of shared reality - admitting that while part of how the client reacts is based on their past, they shouldn't discount their own role - I realized how very good my therapist is at walking this line. I don't recall him ever discounting what I've said by calling it transference. He's always willing to admit the role he's played in our interactions. But he might also bring up patterns of behavior on my part, or past experiences, and relate them to what's going on as well. He does that very carefully, I must admit. He says I bite!
I was trying to figure out how much transference plays a role in my interactions with others. How much one or two characteristics might lead me to generalize about a person's entire being, based on prior experience.
I'm not sure that I do it that often with my parents. I don't assume anyone's like my father, in any way that counts. He's rather unique. And I don't *think* I do it much with my mother except with myself. If I see someone violating personal space at a party, I don't generally assume they're likely to swallow someone whole or invade them like my mother would. But if I see myself come anywhere close to violating someone's personal space, I immediately writhe in agony, thinking that I'll be an engulfer and invader like my mother.
I see it more at work with situations. Like, my mother left me at school after kindergarten in the days before aftercare, when you just didn't leave your kids at school. So I'd be sitting there wondering if she'd be a little late (she couldn't help being a little late, because of where she worked) or if she'd be two hours late. And getting angry and perhaps a bit scared. Probably looking around and thinking that I know Mama loves me, but there aren't any other kindergarteners alone in the schoolyard. If Mama really loved me, would she leave me alone? There aren't even any other kids close to kindergarten age in the schoolyard. Just some high school kids. Do their Mamas love them more than mine loves me? But of course she loves me, she can't help it. But... The teachers are gone. They've left to go pick up their little girls. Why hasn't Mama left to go pick up me? And yes it's fun to sit on the vice principal's desk. He doesn't know many kindergarteners by name, but he knows me. But sometimes the office people are close to picking up and going home by the time Mama comes. What will happen if they close the gates? Will they lock me inside or outside?
So when my therapist doesn't know whether or not he's going on vacation until the day before he leaves, I do feel like that little girl sitting on the steps peering down the street, and a lot of those old feelings come back.
So situationally, I think I experience transference.
And also in very closely related situations, I might experience it. I probably experienced some similarities between biofeedback guy and the pdoc from h*ll, and since they were both in the mental health profession and I was in a similar position to both, I probably made a few leaps forward in deciding what biofeedback guy was like, based on what I knew of the pdoc from h*ll.
Babble is another place where it's easy to do that.
I'll confess that I still have trouble with the stories that suggest that therapists fall in love or experience strong sexual attraction to their clients. It's so far outside my experience. I can understand a client falling for a therapist. The situation seems to be perfect for that. But I still can't manage to put my mind around the reverse. A therapist would obviously go into therapy understanding that it would be disastrous to feel anything sexual or romantic towards their clients. I just don't have the appropriate inner resources to concieve of an attraction being strong enough to overcome that. I suppose I can imagine noting an attraction, but I have trouble understanding that it could affect them enough to affect therapy. I'm sure that's a lack in me.
Posted by Tamar on June 28, 2005, at 3:34:17
In reply to Chapter 6: Gaslighting, posted by Dinah on June 27, 2005, at 21:47:08
I thought the ideas raised in the chapter on gaslighting were really important. Although therapists won’t tell us much about what they’re thinking or how they’re feeling, it’s inevitable that we’ll pick up on their emotions from time to time.
I was so angry when I read Andi’s story about her therapist blaming her for his sleepiness and claiming she wasn’t being genuine in therapy. Even though there was a happy ending, I still feel outraged that a therapist could mess with someone’s head in this way.
So I’m glad the theorists are now accepting that therapists don’t have a monopoly on reality. I think there’s still a tendency in the world in general to perceive mental illness as characterised by a failure to grasp reality.
> So when my therapist doesn't know whether or not he's going on vacation until the day before he leaves, I do feel like that little girl sitting on the steps peering down the street, and a lot of those old feelings come back.
How very distressing! The world is such a confusing place for small children. I can see how your therapist's holidays would evoke the same feelings.
> And also in very closely related situations, I might experience it. I probably experienced some similarities between biofeedback guy and the pdoc from h*ll, and since they were both in the mental health profession and I was in a similar position to both, I probably made a few leaps forward in deciding what biofeedback guy was like, based on what I knew of the pdoc from h*ll.
Yeah, but you could well have been right. I tend to think those kinds of transferences work to our advantage just as much as the ‘new friend’ transferences. If you’ve seen something you don’t like, it probably does go with other things you don’t like. I do believe in giving people second chances, but I have to admit I don’t often change my initial response to someone. Still, it has happened, so I’ll keep making the effort to get to know people a bit before I decide whether I’m going to like them. And I like most people!
> Babble is another place where it's easy to do that.
I think there’s something about communicating online that encourages transference. And it can take some time to get a feel for people’s personalities. I think there are still a few posters I confuse with other posters. One thing I find curious is that it takes me much less time to get a sense of someone who has a posting name that’s actually a name (like Dinah!) rather than an epithet.
> I'll confess that I still have trouble with the stories that suggest that therapists fall in love or experience strong sexual attraction to their clients. It's so far outside my experience. I can understand a client falling for a therapist. The situation seems to be perfect for that. But I still can't manage to put my mind around the reverse. A therapist would obviously go into therapy understanding that it would be disastrous to feel anything sexual or romantic towards their clients. I just don't have the appropriate inner resources to concieve of an attraction being strong enough to overcome that. I suppose I can imagine noting an attraction, but I have trouble understanding that it could affect them enough to affect therapy. I'm sure that's a lack in me.
I tend to think the strength of the attraction can lie in the therapist’s own transference: the attraction is out of proportion to the situation. A mild attraction is one thing, and I expect most therapists feel somewhat attracted to some of their clients some of the time. But a strong sexual desire for a client is probably based in transference or countertransference, I imagine, and therefore difficult to resolve quickly. All the more reason for therapists to be fully aware of their own issues!
Posted by Dinah on June 28, 2005, at 8:35:43
In reply to Re: Chapter 6: Gaslighting » Dinah, posted by Tamar on June 28, 2005, at 3:34:17
> I thought the ideas raised in the chapter on gaslighting were really important. Although therapists won’t tell us much about what they’re thinking or how they’re feeling, it’s inevitable that we’ll pick up on their emotions from time to time.
Absolutely. And my therapist has found with me that it's wisest to admit to the immediate emotion and some of what caused it. He doesn't generally (the dependent woman incident aside) tell me about his deeper issues. He will sometimes say that something is his own issue, not mine, but not often because that inevitably leads to questions. So he'll usually just own the behavior or the immediate emotion. When he used to try to deny it, it would just upset me more and more because I put my own interpretations on what it meant.
>
> I was so angry when I read Andi’s story about her therapist blaming her for his sleepiness and claiming she wasn’t being genuine in therapy. Even though there was a happy ending, I still feel outraged that a therapist could mess with someone’s head in this way.
>
In his defense, I can't remember how many books I've read where therapists are urged to use their feelings, including feelings of sleepiness, to use their countertransference, to figure out what is going on in therapy. And I must confess that my therapist used to fall asleep or get really sleepy a lot in therapy. I'm not shy so I brought it up, he admitted it was his fault, and we tried changing chairs, changing appointment times, everything. When I stopped being superrational and brought my emotions to therapy he quit getting sleepy. He almost never gets sleepy anymore. So there might be something to it.But there is a matter of timing. A therapist might use their sleepiness to determine what's going on in therapy, but there's no point bringing that up at the exact moment he's been caught in impropriety. A therapist is being paid for his time and attention. To fall asleep is not good, no matter what. A heartfelt apology is what's called for then. Questions about how genuine the client is being can be brought up when the client has less justifiable anger.
IM (not usually) HO
> > Babble is another place where it's easy to do that.
>
> I think there’s something about communicating online that encourages transference. And it can take some time to get a feel for people’s personalities. I think there are still a few posters I confuse with other posters. One thing I find curious is that it takes me much less time to get a sense of someone who has a posting name that’s actually a name (like Dinah!) rather than an epithet.You know, I think that's true of me as well. And it isn't only because choosing a name is indicative of your personality either. I don't think I'd be Dinah had I chosen Lily as a posting name. Both perfectly fine names, but different mental images. But that's also true of non-name names, so that can't be the answer. Maybe there's something in the way our brains work. Proper names stimulate a different part of the brain or something? All my dogs but one have human names. Hmmm...
>
> > I'll confess that I still have trouble with the stories that suggest that therapists fall in love or experience strong sexual attraction to their clients. It's so far outside my experience. I can understand a client falling for a therapist. The situation seems to be perfect for that. But I still can't manage to put my mind around the reverse. A therapist would obviously go into therapy understanding that it would be disastrous to feel anything sexual or romantic towards their clients. I just don't have the appropriate inner resources to concieve of an attraction being strong enough to overcome that. I suppose I can imagine noting an attraction, but I have trouble understanding that it could affect them enough to affect therapy. I'm sure that's a lack in me.
>
> I tend to think the strength of the attraction can lie in the therapist’s own transference: the attraction is out of proportion to the situation. A mild attraction is one thing, and I expect most therapists feel somewhat attracted to some of their clients some of the time. But a strong sexual desire for a client is probably based in transference or countertransference, I imagine, and therefore difficult to resolve quickly. All the more reason for therapists to be fully aware of their own issues!
>
>
I think you're right. I guess I see that there are some situations where taboos should be stronger than attraction. Family members, or teacher/student, or therapist/client. At least on the part of the person with more power and more training. I would imagine that letting someone in that far would indicate some other issues being involved.I have to confess that I'm sometimes glad I'm plain. I feel free to talk about all manner of things with my therapist that I'd be shy to bring up if I were attractive. But I don't think he'd ever be so stupid as to let desire or attraction bring him past a certain point, no matter what. At least I hope so, because I'd skin him if he lost his license because he was thinking from the wrong part of his anatomy.
Posted by gardenergirl on July 12, 2005, at 13:36:44
In reply to Re: Chapter 6: Gaslighting, posted by Dinah on June 28, 2005, at 8:35:43
I need to know my deadline for getting caught up in my reading!
gg
Posted by daisym on July 12, 2005, at 17:02:34
In reply to In Session thread: When is D. Lott coming?, posted by gardenergirl on July 12, 2005, at 13:36:44
Goosebumps...I was going to post that!
Great Minds...:)
Posted by pegasus on July 12, 2005, at 21:09:17
In reply to Chapter 6: Gaslighting, posted by Dinah on June 27, 2005, at 21:47:08
Hey, I have about 15 baby-less minutes to post everything I've wanted to post over the past 2 weeks!
The whole gaslighting issue made me think about something my boss said the other day. We were talking about people being terminated from their jobs (notice the unfortunate cooincidence in language between therapy and employment). He said that when people were terminated, there was always ample warning to them about whatever the problem was. Then he said that even so, often they're under the delusion that they weren't warned, and weren't doing anything wrong. So, then we all started wondering whether *we* were delusional about being good employees. Or was he just gaslighting the terminated people, to hide the fact that they were fired because he just didn't like them? Or maybe *he's* delusional about whether they were amply warned.
Anyway, my point is that this type of thing can happen in other places in life, too. But I think it's more nasty in therapy than in most others. Because it's about our general perception of reality, which is a pretty big thing to be delusional about.
Um, so, I guess that's all I have to say about gaslighting. I look forward to continuing this thread, even when I have trouble posting.
Peg
Posted by Dr. Bob on July 12, 2005, at 22:22:45
In reply to In Session thread: When is D. Lott coming?, posted by gardenergirl on July 12, 2005, at 13:36:44
Posted by daisym on July 13, 2005, at 0:27:32
In reply to Re: Chapter 6: Gaslighting, posted by pegasus on July 12, 2005, at 21:09:17
I was talking to a friend tonight who is a psychologist. She checks on me every so often, though I really think she is checking on my therapist. :) I told her that it frightened me that I can't seem to stay with the "real" work...that my therapy itself often becomes the topic of discussion. And i worry that my therapist will get bored. I told her about some of the bad terminations we've heard about here. It was her opinion that bad terminations and gaslighting occur when therapist have their ego invested in the work and when the only validation of their work comes directly from clients. She said the part they leave out of therapy training is how to accept that some clients won't make progress, despite your best efforts. But they might need you to help them simply stay in the same place, instead of getting worse. She also said it is hard to "take" a negative transference but if that is what the client needs, you, as the therapist, need to go down that road with the client. And wait and support and never abandon. It was interesting to hear her perspective. But she thought gaslighting clients about their progress is more common than you would think. Especially with managed care and 12-15 session rules.
I think I'm glad I'm not a therapist.
Posted by Dinah on July 13, 2005, at 17:52:18
In reply to Re: Chapter 6: Gaslighting » pegasus, posted by daisym on July 13, 2005, at 0:27:32
> She said the part they leave out of therapy training is how to accept that some clients won't make progress, despite your best efforts. But they might need you to help them simply stay in the same place, instead of getting worse.
Amazing. That's the conclusion I came to with my therapist about five years ago. That therapy was justified if it just helped you maintain your current acceptable, if not ideal, level of functioning.
Oddly enough, I then felt free to improve. :)
Posted by Dinah on July 13, 2005, at 17:53:46
In reply to Re: the plan is july 25 (nm), posted by Dr. Bob on July 12, 2005, at 22:22:45
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