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Old Feb 02, 2014, 10:38 PM
Yearning0723 Yearning0723 is offline
Poohbah
 
Member Since: Jan 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 1,127
Quote:
Originally Posted by learning1 View Post
I'm really not sure if she would or not, but if she has a detached personality and doesn't value or want attachment the way you do, she might think it's healthier for people to be more independent, rather than wanting someone to care the way you do. Maybe she would think you should have gotten more caring as a kid, even if she doesn't value that kind of caring for adults. But I think some people, maybe even some therapists, believe it is better to always be independent, rather than interdependent, even as kids, so she might think that even needing more caring as a kid was not a good thing. (I prefer interdependence and I think your desire for your t to show you that you are worth being cared about is something a good t with a caring personality could do for you.)

Again, I'm really not sure, and I don't mean to discourage you from trying to make things work with her. Maybe this is my stuff I'm projecting onto her. But I have had relationships with adults (not therapists) who I'm sure really would believe a kid who needed to be cared about (more than your Mom did for you) was too needy and should just learn to be more independent. So, in case she really believes that, I don't want you to get hurt by her. I believe it's healthier for a parent to offer the kind of caring you wanted than to withhold it.
The funny thing is, she works from an attachment framework. And she has a lot of compassion for care that I needed when I was a kid, even care that I needed when I was 16 or 17. But apparently since I'm 18 now, all that care is suddenly off limits and time to grow up and stop needing it and be completely independent? She really, really doesn't want me to depend on her, which I think is "unfair," because she works with teenagers too, and if one of them told her that she was a really supportive, caring adult in their life, I don't think she'd mind that...I don't know, maybe she would? But she tells me how sad she is for me that I didn't get the kind of nurturing and care I needed as a teenager so I don't know.