Therapist as Higher Power

lol...... agree.

I have a feeling that anyone who's been in therapy for any length of time has experienced the human-ness of the T (and yes, I too use this designator because it takes too long to write out therapist every time).

Thanks for this! I wouldn't leave, I would just hand out F's in Reading Comprehension and Retention, or "Room for Improvement". I think people just more took it as an opportunity to have fun riffing on an interesting topic, rather than "simply" answering your question. Kudos to you for stimulating some brain cells!

Far from it. I see my therapist as human not a god. I see the rest of humanity as souless robots.

Thanks, Hankster. The other posts didn't trouble me much, but farmergirl's definitely triggered me. Rush of adrenaline and the whole nine. The word "creepy" is a huge trigger for me, as was the injection of the concept of blasphemy. It was such a taboo in what I view as my abusively religious upbringing that formulating any alternate conception of god other than what I was raised with felt blasphemous to me--even more blasphemous than outright atheism. When I first entered the program, I was constantly expecting that I would be smote at any second for just entertaining the thought.

Maybe a more interesting question than the one I originally posed of how my relationship with my therapist relates to/affects my relationship with my higher power is how does my relationship/attitudes toward my higher power relate to/affect my alliance with my T?

Snuffle - LOL - i've been to several various AA-type programs, and now that you mention it, they were never in a Catholic Church (my upbringing) - and I did kinda sit there waiting for lightning to strike every time they mentioned higher power!

Seriously, I was a bit upset myself with the turns the thread took. That people really didn't understand? - was a little creepy to me.

I am against any nameless "them" used against me - ie that I have to do something because otherwise "they" won't like it, or "they" say so, or because "they" do it, or because "everybody knows". That's the only higher power there ever was around our house, and i'm sick of it, I tell you - sick of it. Anyway.

It can be difficult being a non-theist or questioning in as religious a culture as ours... if you're from the US.

I wonder if stopdog assigns her t a lower power role- the devil incarnate?

I can easily understand how a client could (perhaps not realizing it) begin to look to their t as a sort of higher power. I know i idealize my t too much, and this has been a concern for me. Since i am a Christian, I have had to continue to remind myself that God is the primary one I should look to for guidance. Humans can have helpful ideas and information also, but the Creator knows more about what we need than the created. So this has helped me to bring my t back down to earth, so to speak.

Having said that, I believe that the newfound attachment feelings that are growing with my t (secure, warm connection) are going to help me in my relationship with God. The reason I say this is because before i went to therapy, I believed in God and wanted to serve Him, but I did not know "emotionally" what it would feel like to feel that warm emotionally safe connected feeling with him. I was never close to my dad, and my mom and I didn't have much of an emotional connection either. So when I became a Christian, I was serving God for the right reasons, but not able to feel the feelings of the relationship. Now that I'm learning how it feels to feel connected to my t in a parental-type way, it's easier for me to imagine how emotional closeness with a parent woulde have felt. Once I understand that, it is easier to understand how those same feelings could be shared with a spiritual father (God), but in greater measure.

So i think the attachment with the t, and looking up to them, can be helpful, as long as i realize that human relationships have their limitations, while my spiritual connection with God can serve a greater and more lasting benefit.

I realize that not everybody here is Christian or religious, I'm just speaking for myself.

Snuffleupagus,

Try not to feel hurt. Everybody has an opinion. On a forum like this, there's bound to be various viewpoints.

BTW when I said "read the little book they give you", I just called it that because I can't remember what the life of me what it's called, lol. There were no insinuations there about you not having read it. I'm sure you have but my main point there was the bit in the back tells you about the bit I was referring to, and a lot of people may not know about this part, hence the way I described it.

It's funny, since you started this thread, it occured to me that T reminds me of transference. I had a super weird issue around that with my last therapist (although he hated the term and didn't encourage me to think of our relationship that way).

He was at bottom a gifted therapist I think, but we weren't clicking. He was alternately pleasant and hostile, and would deny everything or say it was my fault if I ever brought up my perceptions and worries around his behavior. I now think he was mentally ill. At one point I definitely had a feeling that he was wildly desirable and inaccessible - I just couldn't break the ice with him, so it made me want to conquer him. And the atmosphere got sort of sexual too (though nothing inappropriate ever happened).

I never thought my T was God - I did think he was hot, though

Some days I look for the horns. Of course, in some ways that may make the therapist feel at least important in some fashion. Usually I discount the therapist as being simply another member of the rabble one endures and then dismisses.

Hey, don't go back to lurking! I loved your post, which is why I replied. I enjoyed it as it brought up a memory of therapy that I posted. I have an odd sense of humor which helps me through the pain. I should have answered in a more serious, caring tone. I do care, so keep on posting! Take care.

It is very easy to over-rely on a therapist or imagine that they have powers greater than they really have. I think most people just say "T" here because it is tiresome to keep typing out therapist.

I am very aware of how human my T is although at times putting him on a pedestal can seem easy. Who else has been able to ease the pain? It can seem miraculous.

I too am agnostic bordering on outright atheism. I would hate to think I am just substituting a human being for a "god concept". You make a good point--the language around the T is infused with a lot of emotion.