Quote:
Originally Posted by Mastodon
To look at a model and come to the reasoned concclusion that the model in question doesn't apply to you is not "choosing to limit oneself". I very much agree with you that we should be open to new ideas and concepts, which means not limiting ourselves to thinking that there are only so many ways people can express love and/or caring. No model which classifies human reactions in a few categories can possibly be all-encompassing, and a model that is based on a specific culture is very clearly limited. Models are not perfect descriptions of reality and if we find them useful that's great, but if they are not useful to us personally, we shouldn't beat ourselves up and feel as if our experiences have no validity, just because they don't tally with what somebody else has experienced.
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The Five Love Languages is useful regarding personal relationships and just to show us there are different ways of showing that you care. But I understand your statement that it may be culturally specific, because it is. At least in relation to therapy, I don't think it's applicable to all cultures.
I'm assuming that since you're in Sweden, where I think therapists require a doctorate to practice (I apologize if I am wrong), then the overt affection you read about in some posts is something you won't likely experience with your T. I don't think that means your therapist cares any less, but conducts therapy from a different perspective. Telling you how much he cares about you (or even loves you) may not be appropriate behavior in his opinion. I don't believe the T's we read about on PC are representative of the the typical therapist. After reading some posts you can end up feeling like your T doesn't care as much as you thought, but I think it's important to keep in mind that this is just a small sampling of all the T's out there, VERY small.