</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
Simcha said:
Really though, what T who has specialty training in adult ADHD keeps a cannister of brightly colored Tinker Toys right in front of the patient...

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">OMG, I would totally love that! I am a very fidgety person, and as it is, I "play" with the objects that T has out on his couchside table right next to me. I have wondered occasionally if this annoys him. He never shows it. He has all these "found"objects such as rocks and other stuff and I like to pick them up and rub them in my hands, stroke them, etc. I especially do this when I am a bit nervous or having a hard time with a topic, so it is also a "non-verbal" way I communicate to him some of my anxiety. I think if he had tinker toys, I would build a large and complicated structure. It would be really engaging to me, and I might lose all interest in therapy and our conversation, lol. Simcha, do you play with the tinker toys?

ECHOES, I hope you are doing OK. When I read what you wrote, it didn't seem to me that what your T said necessarily meant that you needed to apologize or be sorry for what you had done. It's common as others have written here to bring up topics at the last minute. "She could have acknowledged what I said and then said it was important and we'll start with that next time. " --Do you know why you need her to say that? If the topic is one you want to discuss, could you be the one to say, "oh, I know it's late, let's talk about that first thing next time." That is communicating what you want and also indicating you do respect the frame of therapy. ECHOES, the doorknob thing is so very common--does it really mean you are becoming like your mother? I think that feeling is definitely worth exploring!

I'm not sure if you have challenged T's boundaries here, but i know it does hurt when I feel I have stepped on my T's boundaries, but that is what happens in real life too. We inadvertantly step on people's boundaries, they let us know, we take a step back, and do better next time, and the relationship grows. With my T, if he lets me know I have butted up against a boundary, I just try to think of it as new knowledge about him and don't take it personally. I try to shrug it off and not get down on myself. He is trying to get me to do that with other people in my life, so the practice on him is useful.