I talked to this friend of mine this morning... She is a psychotherapist in the UK and is currently working on a conference speech about client-therapist dependence.. We talk about that a lot as it is always something I try to understand. (Just my own issues, lol)She says in her private practice she has a lot of clients who feel very dependent on her, sometimes beyond reason, that it causes her doubt from time to time about her abilities because she feels she is not doing her job right to help clients be more independent and self-sufficient. In this forum I sometimes read about healthy dependence or unhealthy dependence too. (And I think I may have stepped on some people's toes when I shared my perspective on it. Not intentionally stepping on anybody's toes by the way, haha)
When do we know what is healthy or unhealthy dependence?
Sometimes I feel it's us, the clients, who justify our dependence as healthy because of what we have been through and often I feel we don't want to hear what our therapist has to say about this.
What do you think? Is dependence something we want, should want..
When is dependence on the therapist too much (is it ever?) and how do we know we're ready to be more independent and rely more on ourselves? Does the therapist tell us, do we know when it is time? What if the therapist tells us they think we're ready but we don't think so?