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Originally Posted by dj315
I'm pretty sure my therapist is person-centered. I remember reading about it in an Abnormal Psychology class and thinking that it sounded just like him. Plus, I read his LinkedIn profile before I started seeing him and it said that his "work is client-centered".
The whole accepting without judgment, unconditional regard, etc. etc. is what I have distrusted the most about my therapy experience with him (obviously from growing up with a father who could turn on you and tear you to pieces with words in seconds). But it is also what has also helped me grow the most and has provided at least a little balm to my anxiety problems. As I've grown to trust him, therapy has become a place where I can literally discuss anything or what has been eating me alive all week and has also become a place where I can practice vulnerability and trust and hopefully move that to my other relationships in life.
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I absolutely agree. When I started seeing him I quickly became obsessed with my therapist abandoning me if /when I got too needy. This is still a concern for me. Your words have really helped me to frame my experiences.
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I did a few sessions with a CBT therapist several years ago, but I 100% prefer what I am in now to that. I need the relationship and the person to prove me wrong time and time again when I keep expecting him to turn on me or get fed up. Seeing my insecurities I have with people play out between us but feeling completely free to talk about it and analyze it with him is where a ton of my learning is coming from. I've been in it for a couple of years, and I'm not sure when I'll get to the place where I can stop, but it has been a worthwhile investment for me.
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Again, thank you for sharing this, it sounds like there is real depth of honesty in your relationship with your therapist. I realise reading this that I still keep my more negative feelings towards my therapist to myself - for fear that he will 'abandon' me. I never realised that until now... I cannot imagine my life at all without my therapist, I don't know when I would feel ready to stop. But I do hope that in the future I will feel stronger in relationships 'in the outside world' to be more truthfully myself without hiding aspects of myself due to shame or fear of rejection.
Phx