> poke poke prod prod anyone enough and they won't always act in the manner most appropriate to the situation or to the best of their character.

yes, that is most certainly true. it reminds me of something that i'm thinking about a lot at the moment, actually. seperation individuation otherwise known as the 'terrible twos'. it is a time when an infant is trying to assert their own identity aside from their mother. that involves them leaving mothers side and exploring the world and returning periodically to refuel. the emergence of 'no'.

it is meant to be a hard time all around (for the infant and for the mother). very trying. whatever attachment pathology our mothers had (and lets face it nobody is perfect, everybody has got issues) is likely to come to the fore because the terrible twos is a stressful time all round.

some people will test. why? because seperation individation wasn't such a good time for them so they repeat the cycle round and round hoping for a different ending. i know you aren't so keen on psychodynamic theory but attachment theory has been plugged into developmental (experimental) psychology too and so it is a phenomena that seems to be acknowledged all round.

if you see how people respond under stress then you get to know them fairly well indeed. that is (to me anyway) part of the appeal of reality tv such as 'big brother' and 'survivor' and 'the biggest loser'.

when someone who has seperation individuation issues (like me) and who tends to be oppositional (i disagree because i'm asserting my own identity my difference from you!) meets someone who tends to be authoratarian (i'm right because i have many years of experience!) then there can be hurts all around, that is true.

part of it seems to come down to who started it.
did posters start it by posting inappropriate things to him...
did he start it by posting inappropriate things to posters...
you know what?
i don't think that matters.
it is more about round and round and round and round we go
BUT:
the cycle has to stop somewhere.
it has to stop.

maybe a different ending can't be provided but the cycle has to stop somewhere.
maybe this is unfair... maybe it is...
but we expect better from health professionals.
it isn't about fault so much as clash of the issues.
but we expect better from health professionals.

unless psypsi only wants to work with clients who disown themselves and idealise him...