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Old Jan 31, 2018, 10:53 AM
mindmechanic mindmechanic is offline
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Member Since: Apr 2015
Location: US
Posts: 393
If you give your therapist a gift - suppose an artwork that you made - where would you want your therapist to keep it?

I saw an artwork sticking out of the therapist's bag yesterday, and asked about it. She said that she was taking that painting with her because it was her last time having access to that room; we are switching rooms. I asked if it was a patient who gave her the artwork, and she said yes. I told her that her patient would probably be very upset if s/he knew that she kept it in the cabinet in a shared office space. The therapist said that this was the room where she received it. I said that if a patient gives you a gift, they would probably want you to take it back with you and not leave it in the cabinet in a shared office room. She said not all patients might want that. I disagree with her.

This encounter led me to think about how artificial therapy relationships are. There you have a patient who is attached to the therapist, giving her a handmade artwork. And the therapist simply left it in the cabinet of a shared office room. If the therapist didn't take it home with her, she could have at least left it in her other main office instead of chucking it in the cabinet of a room that she rarely uses. So do therapists actually truly care? I doubt it. Imagine how the therapist might have reacted to the gift saying that's beautiful and thank you. But unbeknownst to the patient, his or her artwork is tucked away in a corner.

I have schizoid tendencies, and commented to the therapist that giving her a gift would be disgusting because of the intimacy. But even as a schizoid, I'd know that the patient would probably feel hurt if the therapist simply chucked a handmade artwork at a corner.

Thoughts?
Thanks for this!
Anonymous45127, rainbow8