Quote:
Originally Posted by blackocean
Basically, I am not at all upset with my therapist for this and don't really care to bring it up with him, but I can't tell if he finds me endearing or is mocking me? It makes me feel like a little girl because, as I said, it is the kind of chuckle-laugh you might have to yourself when a kid has done something cute or silly, but I am in my thirties, so. Some examples:
--sometimes when he is telling me something I say "yeah" or "okay," which admittedly isn't very engaging but I am a little awkward and weird, and when I do this he laughs to himself for a bit, and when I ask "What? What are you laughing about?" he says something like, "You say 'okay' like you want me to to shut up" or "to get me to shut up." Or one time he mimicked my "yeah" back at me.
--another time he was telling me to try writing about an experience and explaining how I might approach it and I think I said "okay," and he stopped in the middle of explaining and started laughing to himself and said "You aren't going to do it."
--I am pretty much dead inside at this point and have a flat affect, so I can be pretty deadpan, and I think sometimes he is laughing at my deadpanning. I don't mean to be but I can't help it, because dead. So for example, one time I was telling him about my high school friends doing coke and heroin, and he asked me why I never did that too, and I said "Well, it seems unpleasant." I wasn't being sarcastic or anything, but he chuckled to himself.
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The way I read these examples, I think he is reacting a little bit like an older relative who finds the things a younger relative is saying to be endearing. I don't at all get a vibe like he is mocking you in any way. I think he is appreciating your candor or directness.
I don't think that means he sees you in a condescending way. I think that, just like clients sometimes get transference and start seeing their T as a bit like a parental figure, T's probably get transference too and sometimes feel protective or appreciative like a parental figure might. That stuff can happen even if it doesn't quite fit the data (i.e. your ages and so on). Just personally, I would tend to see this as a positive sign that he likes you as a client. That's just my personal read on things, from your examples.