OMG, I frickin' HATE THAT! ARGH! I just threw up in my mouth a little! Blechhhhhhhhhh!
That behavior would be a total dealbreaker for me. I'm in therapy to discuss MY issues. I don't give a crap about my therapist's other clients. My therapist should be GLUED to me and my story, especially in the initial sessions! Your T should be trying to get to know you, not lumping you in with other people she's seen in practice, or comparing you in ANY WAY to them. This is purely the wrong focus.
It also sounds like she's just
talking way too much in your sessions. Does she talk about her family and friends, what movies she's seen recently, how hard it is to sell her house? Is she even letting you get a word in edgewise?
You can bring up your concerns with this T in a nice way, but do bring them up. Ask her why she feels it's necessary to discuss other clients in session with you. Stress the fact that it's important to you to feel focused on exclusively.
Add that you're uncomfortable with the lack of confidentiality she's displaying, and that you hope she's not talking about YOU to the rest of her clients. Names or no names, it shows very poor judgment on her part. SERIOUSLY inappropriate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoodPoint
Hi guys! New poster here...  I'm actually kind of bummed I'm only just discovering this forum. I find all the posts about the idiosyncrasies of therapy/therapists on this forum fascinating! I've been lurking for all of a week and am already hooked/behind in schoolwork as a result.  I'm not sure if there's a place to introduce ourselves here, but just a brief intro-- I've been in some form of therapy for the past 14 years mainly for eating disorder/depression/social anxiety. I recently moved for grad school and left a therapist I had been seeing for 12 years (  ) and started seeing a new therapist about 4 months ago, who is mostly pretty great and I have grown quite attached to her already.
Anyway, something I've noticed about her that is different from what I'm used to is how she makes frequent mention of "other clients." Not by name obviously, but like "I have this client who said/did ________ the other day and <insert relevant anecdote/life lesson>." I'm not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, it makes me happy to know she cares enough to pay attention to and remember things her clients say, and is skilled enough to use examples in meaningful ways. On the other hand, it makes the "I am not her only client" reality that much clearer, and I do have issues with this (I want to be her favorite/it hurts to think I'm just a small blip on her radar). And it makes me wonder if she ever uses examples from our sessions... such pressure!!
Once she even said "the girl who was here before you..." and then went on to give a pretty detailed story about her. eeks. And the thing is, I had just run into the girl as she was leaving/I was coming (therapist didn't know this though). Kinda weird. As if I'm not paranoid enough about how I measure up to her other clients.  |