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Old Nov 27, 2013, 07:19 PM
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archipelago archipelago is offline
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Member Since: Jan 2013
Posts: 1,773
Yes, the main concern is whether or not you really get that it can't be a reciprocal relationship, no matter how close you feel or what you feel. It's a professional relationship with some real qualities, some cases more than others. But the bottom line is that it can't simply be a conversation in a friendly way. That's not doing the work of therapy. You can get that from friendships and loved ones. The benefit of the therapeutic relationship is that there aren't supposed to be any expectations or strings attached like there are in many other personal relationships. That gives you the freedom to take up space and not worry about the other person. If a client starts feeling like they are tailoring themselves to the therapist, then something is going wrong and that can be harmful. It does happen in subtle ways so sometimes hard to detect, but it's important to be alert to that and examine it if it comes up.
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