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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 13 of 13. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by mair on September 24, 2004, at 14:52:30
For reasons I cannot explain, I'm pretty curious about this, but I don't feel free to ask whether she's religiously observant or not. I'm not at all, so it's strange to me that I want to know whether she is. But we have talked some about the tension between my father and I because I refuse to go to church and about the decision my husband and I made not to direct my kids in any particular direction.
Do any of you know anything about this aspect of your T's life?
Mair
Posted by Miss Honeychurch on September 24, 2004, at 15:20:34
In reply to T's religious practices, posted by mair on September 24, 2004, at 14:52:30
My T believes in God. But says religion is a "childhood neurosis." I'm still not quite sure what this means!
Posted by shortelise on September 24, 2004, at 15:44:23
In reply to T's religious practices, posted by mair on September 24, 2004, at 14:52:30
My T is a practicing Jew and I know this because he takes the holidays off. We never talk about it.
ShortE
Posted by daisym on September 24, 2004, at 16:44:48
In reply to Re: T's religious practices » mair, posted by shortelise on September 24, 2004, at 15:44:23
Mine is Jewish and I know this because he also takes Holidays off.
We have discussed God though...and the strength you can get from a core belief in a spiritual caregiver. There was a time in therapy when I told him I realized I had stopped talking to God. He thought that was very important and we talked about our beliefs a little then.
I'm guessing this is one of those subjects that you might not want your clients to know too much about unless you are using it in some way in your practice. Some therapist's pray with their clients. I guess the theraputic question is why do you want to know?
Posted by RosieOGrady on September 24, 2004, at 18:36:08
In reply to Re: T's religious practices, posted by daisym on September 24, 2004, at 16:44:48
Mine is Roman Catholic. I'm not. Of the two others I have had long relationships with one was also Catholic and I did not know about the other's faith at the time I was seeing him.
Posted by alexis6 on September 24, 2004, at 18:51:28
In reply to Re: T's religious practices, posted by RosieOGrady on September 24, 2004, at 18:36:08
My old T grew up as a Mennonite. So basically Amish. I was pretty shocked, but it turns out that he somehow managed to deprogram himself and became very antagonistic towards the church, and is no longer a Christian.
Posted by shrinking violet on September 24, 2004, at 19:19:28
In reply to Re: T's religious practices » mair, posted by shortelise on September 24, 2004, at 15:44:23
My T is a Buddhist (she grew up Catholic). She mentioned it pretty early on, and she'll bring it up now and then, but not overly so. I'd be curious to find out whether she believes in God, though; most Buddhists don't, but given her upbringing (and she went to a Catholic high school), I'd be curious to find out her thoughts on it.
Posted by mair on September 24, 2004, at 22:33:50
In reply to Re: T's religious practices, posted by daisym on September 24, 2004, at 16:44:48
Daisy - I don't know why I want to know. There have been threads here about how much you know about your T's life and what you know of their political beliefs. We don't talk politics much, but i'm pretty sure I know where she falls on that spectrum. I also know tons more about her personal life than is typical. Maybe this is just one more piece of the puzzle. And I'm really not as curious about her personal beliefs as I am just religious practices.
I live in an area of the world where people just don't talk much about religious beliefs or practices, and really the only people I know who talk openly about going to services are catholics, because they tend to go pretty regularly, and jews, because they tend to be pretty observant around the holidays. I had an internist once who told me that she intended to pray alot during a planned sabatical. I was really taken aback by her comment, not maybe because she was a person who prayed, as maybe because she was talking so openly about it.
Frankly, I can imagine few things that would be less comfortable to me than having a T who wanted or was willing to pray with me.
Mair
PS: I guess I also have to admit that I've wondered if she thought my husband and I were being very neglectful for doing so little to introduce religion into our own children's lives.
Posted by daisym on September 24, 2004, at 23:35:25
In reply to Re: T's religious practices » daisym, posted by mair on September 24, 2004, at 22:33:50
Praying is one of the more private things I do. I can't imagine doing it with my therapist. But I guess I can see how it might be connective if you have shared beliefs.
I'm Catholic but I'm one of those "live and let live" kind of people. I moved so much as a child that Church was a stable element. It was the same no matter where we lived. I wanted to be a Nun because they seemed so sure God could fix everything. (Oh, and no one wanted to have sex with them.)I use Church as a quiet place to think and I'm shocked at how emotional I feel sometimes in there. I'm not even sure why.
I guess another good thing about knowing at least a little about your therapist's religious practices is that you know if you call at a certain time, or day, they might be delayed getting back to you. Like, unless it was an EXTREME emergency, I wouldn't call tonight or tomorrow. It is a very sacred holiday if you are Jewish. But if I have a hard time on Sunday, no problem with calling.
Last week we talked a little about therapists who are one person as a therapist but another in their life. He told me that he is pretty much the same, at least he thinks so, in his actions and beliefs. He said he has just learned to "turn off" the need to analyze or help people who haven't asked him to. I think I'm glad that he brings his "real" self into therapy. It is comforting some how.
Posted by Aphrodite on September 25, 2004, at 7:40:11
In reply to T's religious practices, posted by mair on September 24, 2004, at 14:52:30
My T is a practicing Buddhist. We talk a lot about spiritual issues, and I find him very open-minded. I like the Eastern ideas and practices such as mindfulness and meditation that he incorporates into therapy.
Posted by rubenstein on September 25, 2004, at 14:19:33
In reply to T's religious practices, posted by mair on September 24, 2004, at 14:52:30
My T and I often talk about religion and he is very open about the fact that he used to be a presybeterian minister (the type fo church I was raised in). I think at times he is afraid to let too much info out as not to sway me to think one thing or the other however in my last session we talked at great length about forgiveness and his past minisirial training was really useful in that context.
Posted by gardenergirl on September 25, 2004, at 17:12:53
In reply to Re: T's religious practices, posted by rubenstein on September 25, 2004, at 14:19:33
I have no idea about my T's practices, which is fine with me. I was not brought up in any organized religion, and I still do not participate much in it. Instead, I tend to have my own evolving spirituality which includes meditation. He has been quite receptive when I've mentioned meditating and yoga and even working with my chakras. Which is good. Because if he thinks that's all hokum, I don't want to know. He even used what I said about my 5th chakra (near the throat) feeling closed as a way to talk about difficulty expressing my emotions to others. So I think he is very cool.
gg
Posted by Dinah on September 26, 2004, at 0:01:34
In reply to T's religious practices, posted by mair on September 24, 2004, at 14:52:30
I'm relatively aware of his. He's careful in the way that therapists are only to reveal things that wouldn't upset me.
But if I want to blow $110 bucks on enjoyment, I really have fun talking theology with him. There aren't many people I know that I can talk theology with enjoyably. My dad is one. My therapist is the other. We have lively discussions at times. Most people can't talk theology without religion getting involved.
I think he enjoys my theological positions. Not to say he agrees with them, but he understands how I arrive at them and respects me for thinking it through. Once he said he thought of me during Sunday School when the topic was the Book of James.
He says that my gift is to get people to think about theological positions that they just mouth out of habit. My Sunday School just thinks I'm a heretic. :(
This is the end of the thread.
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