Hi everyone,

So as you may recall if you saw my earlier thread this week, my T and I had a conflict about his self-disclosure. I asked him why he became a therapist (and a trauma therapist at that), he declined to answer and quizzed me about why I asked, which led him to explain in what felt to me a sort of condescending way about the basics of therapy boundaries. I told him (again) that I've been in T for decades and understand the rules, and that I didn't even want any extensive disclosure, I was just wondering about that question. I was wondering because it's not like he became an accountant, he's a T and why does he care about working with the likes of me?

So he did apologize; he said, "I hurt your feelings, I didn't intend at all to be condescending, I was trying to put this in context." (Which I think means that he was trying to explain that it's important therapeutically for both of us to understand why I was asking. Which I do, and which is why I told him why I was asking.)

Anyway, I left still feeling angry, and I'm still angry, and don't know entirely why, and I have NO idea where to pick up when I see him this week. Part of me wants to ask him to clarify his policies with me more clearly (re: self-disclosure, etc.), so I'm not left wondering about things. But on a feeling level, I'm not trusting him much right now, the environment with him feels cold to me, and I'm having genuine questions about how to make this work with him.

Maybe I start there? I don't know. Any and all suggestions welcome.

Sigh. T can be so uncomfortable.