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Old Nov 28, 2013, 08:39 PM
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feralkittymom feralkittymom is offline
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Member Since: Aug 2012
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RTerroni View Post
I think you're on the right track, I guess I was saying that some people want their Therapist to be strictly a professional to help with their problems while others (like myself) want to see them as a regular person who they can talk to not just about their problems but also some of their interests (I can remember with a prior Therapist of mine we used to also talk about things such as current events that were going on at the time).
Talking about current events is very different because the information isn't owned by either party. The difficulty I have with what you're saying is that by ferreting out the personal information in order to then use it in some pre-planned way in the session, you essentially rob the T of the choice of self-disclosure. It's a kind of one-upsmanship, or some such thing. Of course, the T can say in response, "I would prefer not to discuss that," but then you've made an issue where none needed to exist, and I expect that you would be unhappy with that response. You have the right to disclose as you see fit; why do you want to deny the T the same right? How does that achieve your goal of feeling the relationship as more real or personal?