-You are a very likeable person*
-Tell me I'm good looking
-Ask me about what music I like
-They both compare cancer to mental illness
-I would never leave your side
-I want to know about you and your family
-You can trust me
-Your suicidal thoughts are safe with me (big lie)
-I would never send you into a psych ward
-I understand what you're going through.
-You only need me and you will be ok.
These things all sound like the textbook stuff that all therapists are supposed to say with a few exceptions.
"Your suicidal thoughts are safe with me" and "I would never send you to the psych ward" are the two obvious lies in there - its their job to send us to the psych ward if we are at risk of harming ourselves or others. If they don't do that then they are not doing their job properly since that is the law. And i have noticed that mentioning suicidal thoughts rapidly leads to the psych ward scenario.
The superficial flattery in the other points is a mechanism whereby they say these things and if we believe it then we trust them. I call them "gatekeeper phrases" - they open the door to trust. And then when we trust them, thats when the real therapy can begin (or so I have read).
"You only need me and you will be ok" strikes me as quite a bizarre thing to say. I haven't heard that one before. The first idea I get is that maybe this T is fresh out of university and still in that "I am going to save the world" mindset that they are in when they graduate. Its strange because normally T's encourage you to work with all your various treatment avenues and only then can you become well (eg. keep seeing your pdoc so the medication avenue is looked after).
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