Quote:
Originally Posted by sittingatwatersedge
“Therapy is an arrangement in which a patient pays a doctor some money which obligates the doctor to listen and keeps him from going away, no matter how badly he is treated or what the patient says to him. After a while the patient gets to feel guilty over the way he’s been acting towards this doctor. After all, even if the doctor is paid to listen and takes all the abuse, he is still a person. So the patient begins to look at how he acts and tries to be nicer to the doctor. And then after a while the patient starts being nicer even to people he isn’t paying to listen to him. And that’s what therapy is.”
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Pretty much nothing about this describes my therapy. I don't treat my therapist badly or make him want to go away. I don't feel guilty about treating my therapist a certain way, because I treat him great! We treat each other with respect. I certainly don't abuse him. If anything, my therapy has progressed to being able to occasionally show some anger to T. I started out very nice, very contained, and am learning how to show a fuller range of emotions. I have always been very nice to people in real life too. But I am learning to have better relationships outside therapy and not settle for crap when people give it to me. Being nice doesn't mean having to be a doormat.
I prefer the "client" designation too, but know that some mental health practitioners prefer patient. I think of patient as being part of the medical model and a patient as being sick. I don't feel I am sick or have a mental illness. I am just working on being better at life.