i can so understand your discomfort with the empty chair thing. my old t had me do it once and it felt so weird. i didn't know anything about it and still really don't. i think i felt very silly and awkward role playing talking to an empty chair. it was also really difficult and i had a hard time doing it. she pretty much coached me through it. if we'd done it more than the one time i'm sure i probably would have gotten more comfortable with the process. it's funny because i just realized i had a dream once where i basically did in the dream the same thing that i did with the empty chair. the dream was quite significant and the person was the same in both situations. i wish i could remember how much later the dream was after the chair thing. it may have been years or it could have been much closer--i have no idea. i never even made the connection between the two until just now!