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Old Jun 20, 2013, 08:03 AM
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rainbow8 rainbow8 is offline
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Member Since: Mar 2009
Location: US
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sunrise View Post
I am an interrupter too, but have improved over the years. It is an obnoxious habit, and I don't want to annoy others, so this has helped motivate me to break this bad habit. Rainbow, since you have had several people tell you that you interrupt, you know you do it. The next step is to become more aware and mindful of when you are doing it. You can pay attention to what you are doing and saying. Even someone who says "umm" all the time can begin to pay attention to that and catch themselves when they do it at least some of the time. Perhaps make little rules for yourself and practice in therapy. "I will not speak until there is a silence of at least 5 seconds." So you will not allow yourself to speak to your T until you have counted 5 blank seconds after she has uttered her last word (for the moment). That would mean she is done speaking and there is a gap into which you can now respond. Or make your own rule that works for you. I think it would be good if you at least made an effort to be aware of your bad habit and interruptions on your own without dumping this all onto T with your idea to have her stop you each time you interrupt her. Take some responsibility and give this a try yourself. You have done so much work on mindfulness, you can be mindful and begin to notice when you are not allowing the other person to finish. You could tell your T at the beginning of your session that you are really going to try to not interrupt her and then perhaps one time, at the end of the session, she can tell you how you did that day. Asking her to correct you every time you mess up sounds like wanting her to be an oversolicitous mother and correct your behavior each time you do something "wrong". You are an adult and you can control your own behavior without the constant corrections and feedback of another person. Try it yourself before giving up and asking your T to play such a dominant role in guiding your behavior. Maybe you won't be perfect at first, and that's OK, but I believe you can start to notice when you are interrupting, and at least show improvement over when you are not being mindful and trying to change. Good luck. It is worth it to break this bad habit!
sunrise, I wanted to add to my reply to you. I think it's a good idea to try to wait 5 seconds after anyone has said their last word, not just my T. I'm going to try it today! Thanks. I'm impressed that you "conquered" this bad habit too. Thanks again for your suggestions and your support.