
Jun 12, 2022, 09:11 AM
|
|
|
Member Since: Jul 2019
Location: Downtown Vibes, California
Posts: 15,701
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by AliceKate
Beth, I agree your T is wrong in how she does things. If she can't provide consistent care, she should find something else to occupy her. It's good, in my opinion, that you leave her. I would draw her ethics into question.
That being said, I find driving past a T's home to be a violation of boundaries. I think I might know the city where my T lives, and I'm not ever planning to go there, let alone would I drive past his house or drop anything off at his door. I even avoid walking past his office unless I have a session there. However, I acknowledge that my situation may be different. I have issues with malignant fantasies and I have been friends with a stalker in the past (over the internet). I felt very connected to this guy and find this sort of behaviour would but be a little bit of a stretch for me. Me doing that sort thing would worry me (and it would most certainly worry my T). Just saying that to point out that while I do feel correct in saying it is generally wrong to drive past a T's house, my perspective is of course tainted by the specific circumstance of me being me.
|
My situation was different, too. I wasn't secretly driving past my T's house to check it out. She has a chronic illness and this time, according to what I was being told by the people who work with her and saw her, she was frightening ill. There were very serious comments...We have to hope for the best...If you pray, this is a good time to pray for her...We just don't know what's going to happen...
It occurred to me that this time might be "the one, " that M. may actually die. I wanted to reach out to her, let her know that she's an adored person. I wanted to nurture her. Since I couldn't do so in person, it seemed to me that giving her nice little gifts to cheer her was the next best thing. I didn't feel like I was crossing boundaries anymore than she has. I wasn't sneaking around in the dark, I was completely open about showing my care and my love for her at a time that, due to her severe illness, was (I thought) outside the box of a normal therapeutic relationship. It is true that after 2 months of her absence I felt angry at her. Still, my desire to nurture my therapist was stronger than my anger.
And what I received in return was a painful slap on the wrist and a stark reminder that while she may care about me, and even though she has signed her cards "Love, M., " we were, in truth, inside of a box called "therapy." There are limitations inside of that box, and there is a hierarchy, a strong power imbalance.
I don't have any answers, but I have come to believe that the very therapist-client relationship might actually be the sickest thing in the room.
__________________
|