These little moments can be quite a thing, I know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BudFox
"Remember: a therapist is always a stranger to a client, no matter how well the client claims to know the therapist." -- Jeffery Masson, psychoanalyst and Freudian scholar
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This is a disheartening quote. It can feel so frustrating to think that they might be "a stranger." I don't think stranger is the right word because we DO know something of them.
The side they show to us is a real thing but it's a small part, not the whole. When those other sides peek through from behind the curtain it can be jarring. Personally I find it thrilling and informative. First I note the reaction, "Wow, OK WIP, what is this about?" I'll ask myself, "What did you expect?" and then, "Okay, WHY, did you expect that?" I can learn a lot about myself from what I project, assume and read into with my Therapist.
One of the most 'disillusioning' moments I ever had with my T wasn't even a fact or opinion that she stated, but the way she responded to something I had observed in public. I can only imagine she thought she was 'identifying' with my opinion, but she reacted a bit more strong than I ever would have and she was quite judgmental. She put on an ugly face and was mocking something. I didn't at all feel that way at all. That split second kinda showed me something of her own 'pet peeves' and how she might respond to something or someone she truly disapproves of. Honestly, she looked kinda silly, too. I was slightly embarrassed and felt myself pull back a bit. The fact is I disagreed with her sentiment and saw a judgmental side I'd never seen before. It still made her more human, in my eyes. It also made me kind of fear what she might be like when she's really being pissy about something.
Side-note* She doesn't know this, but I had seen a flash of this before when I ran into her at a café years back. Before she saw me, I caught a glimpse of her talking to someone on her phone and the face she was making seemed irritated and impatient and annoyed. It was a off-putting but then again, it made her more human in my eyes.
But all of this also goes to the point that those moments make me feel like I "know" her when I've only seen glimpses of the whole. Those glimpses are no less real but not the entire reality.