See, I'm still in the 'wait, WHAT?' stage, when he says something I'm feeling is normal (and I'm talking more about feelings than problem behaviors). And I do consider him something of an expert -- he has a doctorate in this subject, so he probably knows a little more than I do. I was arguing with him one time about something normal and his response was along the lines how the **** would *I* know whether it was normal or not, given how messed up my family is. I was like: [for you, stopdog, I'll translate that to: a little shocked, ticked off, followed by thinking it was funny.]

My T DOES NOT work with me on changing behaviors as much as I would like. He wants to address the underlying attitudes, thoughts and self talk. He says that the behaviors then improve without having to struggle with them as much. That made sense to me because I rehab abused animals. They often come to me with huge behavioral issues. I don't even bother with addressing ANY of their problem behaviors when I first get them. I work on getting them over their fear, and helping them trust humans again. By and large, once they trust me and know I'm not going to hurt them, the problematic behaviors disappear.