Cuban Missile Crisis

So today in session I had decided I just wanted someone to talk to about stuff I've been reading lately. I don't know anyone who grooves on the kinds of topics I get enthralled with.

So, since I pay T big bucks, I figured she'd have to endure my talking about odd quirky topics I run across whether she liked it or not.

So, I shared with her the fascinating subject that I read about in the latest issue of the Atlantic magazine. An article titled, "The Real Cuban Missile Crisis". Compelling how different the real episode in 1962 was compared to how we were told about it.

Then I talked with her about post-totalitarianism in Eastern Europe because I'm reading a newly published book called, "The Taste of Ashes". So intriguing to me but I do not know a soul with whom I can talk about these things with.

Then I told her about more interesting (to me) facts about India from a book "A Free Man, A True Story of Life and Death in Delhi"

Well, you might think, what the hey does any of that have to do with psychotherapy?

For me, it was wonderful to have an attentive ear to things I'm involved with but what is really interesting is how bringing up "non-emotional' areas of interest for me DID in the end bring me around to core emotional issues.

I guess I was thinking a bit about the whole concept of stream of consciousness talking (a previous thread) and thought I'd try to put it into practice.

Although the session wasn't the most 'productive' in the sense of having dove very deeply into the inner psyche, it DID give me lots of satisfaction and it did cover some emotional issues also.

Funny, huh?

The one I see got all excited recently when I spent most of the time talking about a new hobby. I did not feel any different at the end, but the therapist seemed to have gotten herself all happy about me telling her about it. It is not usual for me to do that. And I will probably try to refrain in the future.

Also the therapist has wanted to talk about my pets and other such things before that did not seem related to anything emotional to me. I suppose the thinking is that sometimes it is not the specific topic that is important.

Sometimes I talk about hobbies with my T, and once I read a paper that I was going to give at a meeting. Then there was the time I sang my favorite songs to her. I agree that whatever we choose to talk about or do in therapy can be related to our emotional issues. As long as you aren't avoiding talking about something you need to be talking about.

So, I shared with her the fascinating subject that I read about in the latest issue of the Atlantic magazine. An article titled, "The Real Cuban Missile Crisis". Compelling how different the real episode in 1962 was compared to how we were told about it.

Then I talked with her about post-totalitarianism in Eastern Europe because I'm reading a newly published book called, "The Taste of Ashes". So intriguing to me but I do not know a soul with whom I can talk about these things with.

First, I think both of these sources sound very interesting and I'll be checking them out--so thanks!

I do think it's important for the relationship, too, for our Ts to see us in as many lights as possible. It gives them a context in which to place the often highly emotional and "weakest" parts of ourselves. It serves as a counter to our sometimes unrealistic sense of ourselves as "less" than we are. It allows them to see us as more than our difficulties. It garners respect, and it opens the possibility that there may be mutuality in the relationship. Good for you!

When you talk about something you love, most likely your face lights up. Therapists love to see that.

Everything we talk about connects to us. A skilled therapist will direct back to you and connect what you talk about to something else you maybe trying to say.

I agree! When I talk about my grandchildren or an experience I've had that I've greatly enjoyed, I get very animated and happy. My T loves it! She loved my "art show" Tuesday. But she does turn my conversations into something therapeutic. She asks how I feel when I have a good time, or am with my grandchildren. The last time I said "lighter" so we had a discussion about that, and how to expand that feeling!

I think the intellectual is often wrapped up in the emotional, and I don't see those as separate as many people do. Some of the things I am most intellectual about I am also the most passionate about. I think I deal with all of my emotional needs/issues with a large dose of intellectual stuff-- not sure if it is intellectualization, or just because a big part of who I am is the intellectual part of me.

But, I am curious, because there are times when I'm just really talking about intellectual stuff, maybe a book, maybe a theory, maybe politics or history, and my T cuts me off after a few minutes and typically says something about being in my head. Maybe that's different from where you were with your T, but my perception is that my T redirects me pretty quickly when I start talking ideas rather than about myself. I'm okay with that, but that's the only time he really deliberately steers me away from something, so it's curious to me.