Should I avoid asking my therapist "how are you" because I know he cannot reply honestly? Or is it just a polite greeting?
Well Im sorry to see the answers so far (2 so far in this thread) about assuming that you can't ask this simple question or that your therapist will not even have an honest (but brief in respect to YOUR time) response.I often will BRIEFLY share some personal response like “I had a great time with my grandkids this weekend”, or “I just saw this terrific movie”, etc.If I can, I might also then relate my circumstance to something that the client has been working on to show how I may have used a strategy or technique that is the same as I may have offered in a previous session.As a psychotherapist who specializes in CBT, I often relate personal anecdotes of how I have found CBT strategies to be an effective and healthy approach to all of life’s trials and tribulations AND how it can be used to create WHATEVER life I want to have!Hope that helps :)
As a psychologist/psychiatrist/therapist, how do you avoid becoming emotionally invested in your patients' lives?
This is a thought-provoking question for me and I look forward to reading responses from others. I was a brand-new therapist a year ago and went into the job with very little supervision or guidance. I pretty much followed my instincts and intuition in most cases, although I had a co-worker I could staff things with at times. I did not feel like I could approach my supervisor with most questions or concerns so I felt like I was flying blind a lot of the time. Fortunately I knew enough to establish professional boundaries and those served me well.However, despite my best attempts at maintaining boundaries I did become emotionally invested. I wrote previously about a woman whose son died and how her grief impacted me in our first session. She and I worked together for almost a year and at EVERY session she would bring photos of her son to show me. She’d show me the photos at the end of the session and tell me the stories behind them, often crying as she did so. We didn’t spend a lot of time on the photos but it quickly became a very important part of her therapy sessions for her and I couldn’t help but develop some emotional investment with her. I had another patient who I worked with for almost a year and when he started making strides toward better self-care and self-advocacy, I wanted to jump up and down and cheer for him. There were many others—I genuinely cared for each of them and wanted them to be more ok than they were when they started coming to me for therapy.When my employer chose not to renew my contract, that meant that all of my patients were told abruptly that I was no longer at that clinic and they would have to switch to the other therapist employed there. The patients had no warning and no transition, which was a horrible way to treat them. Although I was upset at not having my contract renewed, I was far more upset on the patients’ behalf. I truly cared about them. Knowing they were forced to change therapists with no warning (and presumably no explanation offered to them as to why I was no longer there) still infuriates me. I suppose you could say that’s a sign I was emotionally invested in them. I don’t know how I couldn’t have been, honestly, at least at some level.I guess that’s a long way of saying that I did NOT avoid becoming emotionally invested with my patients. Did I become overly invested? I don’t believe I did, but I had enough emotional investment to really care about their progress and well-being.
What does this line in the modern version of the Hippocratic Oath mean?
I have an English final tomorrow on the Hippocratic Oath and I was wondering what this line means: "I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of over-treatment and therapeutic nihilism." The last part of this line confuses me and if someone could clarify, that would be great. Thank you in advance!! :)
My therapist thinks I have PTSD?
I'm a little confused. It's true I used to wonder the same thing about myself after some internet research, but I just don't see most of the symptoms in myself. The portion of ptsd my therapist notices in me is the avoidant portion. (Avoiding triggers to something that reminds victim of the trauma including thoughts, conversations, and places, not remembering important parts of a traumatic event, a loss of interest in once important activities, feeling distant from people, difficulties of feeling happiness or love, and feeling like life may be cut short.) I haven't discussed avoiding triggers and memories with her or what the traumatic events were like, if they were traumatic. She thinks witnessing my mom's alcoholism over the years might be the series of traumatic events for me. I remember most of everything but I don't avoid it unless my dad is trying to talk about it which just annoys me. My school counselor from freshman year thought I had it too. At that time I was showing more obvious symptoms; I was cutting myself and not bothering to hide it, feeling numb to everything around me, disconnected from my feelings, suicidal thoughts, and thinking I would die in a few years mostly because I didn't want to live long.) But now things are different. I stopped cutting, can feel regular emotions again, and can see a future for myself. My therapist can still see the signs in me. Maybe because she's seen other women act the same way? What do people with the avoiding symptoms of ptsd act like?
How bad does my issue need to be to be to deserve a therapist?
I typically look at the following indicators:Everything you feel is intense— Are you “catastrophizing” and “awfulizing” everything? Minor issues evolving into catastrophes and anxiety producing events—A major life event or trauma has your mind occupied most of your waking hours. It consumes your every thought. Whether the death of a loved one or something that has happened to you— if you cannot stop thinking about it and it is consuming your every waking hourSymptoms such as frequent head-aches, stomach pains, body aches, muscle twinges or twitches— not explained by an underlying medical issueYou’re using a substance to cope— whether it be food, drugs prescription or illicit, alcohol or homeopathic substanceYou’re receiving negative feedback in work or schoolYou no longer enjoy once enjoyable activitiesYou’re participating in risky behaviors or risky sexual behaviorsYour friends are telling you that they’ve noticed a significant changeRelationships are strainedIt’s important to remember that a therapist is there to help you help yourself through whatever difficulties you may be having. Therapy for some clients may only last a few sessions. Finding the right therapist for you is key. Identifying and managing diagnosable mental illness is a priority in the psychiatric community, psychological help for those without a clear condition to manage is just as important. Why allow yourself to suffer needlessly? If you’re in distress you may actually make the problem worse by avoiding professional help.
Can therapy work for me if I think I know more/am smarter than my therapist?
Yes.I thought I cant be helped because there is no person smarter than me for the first 28 years of my life. I thought I am locked inside this forever because all the people who tried to help me seemed to simply be stupid. Already when I was 4 years old I felt like I am smarter than my parents and teachers.Also, the shrinks seemed to like me too much. They responded to my self bashing by telling how beautiful and smart and unique I am. But I already knew I am someone pathologically likeable to everyone except for myself, so in a way I hate it when people to like me.The woman who finally helped me is not at all smarter than me. I could see through her. I rolled my eyes internally when she did not know most of the books I mentioned. She did not believe in god etc, had no clue about meditation and tried to dissuade me from taking a Vipassana course.However at 1 point I realized I did not need anyone smart. My overdeveloped intellect and processing power had not helped me in any way until then.What helped me was the opinion and guidance of someone NORMAL and down to earth. Someone who stayed NEUTRAL in front of my suffering. who displayed no signs of intuitive liking but instead a proffessional compassion. She helped me tell emotions apart from the facts. She treated me like she would treat anyone else and this was exactly what helped me navigating out of the dellusions of my epic misery.
I'm thirteen, my mom signed me up to see a therapist?
I've been having some issues when I am depressed all the time, and I'm avoiding my friends and all the people around me. I've lost like all my friends and now I'm just a loner.I got transferred to a smaller charter school for eighth grade because I couldn't take it anymore, being alone. That didn't work out so well. I'm alone at this school too. I tried to make friends..but idk. I feel horrible when I think of the year ahead, starting highschool alone..4years.. On monday I had a complete breakdown and started crying and telling my mom everything. then she signed me up.. and okay so now I'm TERRIFIED of seeing this therapist. I don't like the idea of being alone with this person for an hour telling her everything..I can't get my mom to cancel it either. Is it actually going to help? What should I do to get through this emotionally straining hour of therapy? I hate this, I feel like an idiot asking this..
What are therapists suppose to do when a client cries?
My therapist looks around the room and avoids looking at me. She tells me "There are tissues there" or "Are you okay now?". I hate crying in front of people, I don't really cry in front of her my eyes just get watery but the tears don't drop, I bite my lip and calm down. I hate talking about anything in therapy because I know I will start crying, I can't explain to her how much I hate myself or feel so worthless because I know Im going to burst out crying, and she just gives me this look of sympathy that I hate. Should I just get over it and cry and really tell her how I feel? I don't want to cry because my face gets red and the snot just never seems to STOP and then after the session I feel my mom will ask me why I was crying or look at me funny.