Winning the Patient's Trust

It is all good if it is what you like. I am not as critical of yalom's type of therapy as such as much as I thought he came off like a giant egotistical condescending misogynistic jerkwad in his books. But that is just me. He is a popular guy for some reason.

I agree with you stop, but I read his stuff anyway

It's that glimpse behind the curtain that I like, although I dislike Yalom himself quite a lot.

Hmmm, I agree and I disagree.

For me, I had to force myself to trust T at first. I had to trust him, b/c my life with a panic disorder and no reilefs was hell. I tell him he was my last hope, so I trusted him intially to share certain parts of myself. However, as time has gone by, the things he has done (sharing personal things, being there for me outside of appointments, etc) have given me more of a reason to trust him.

Ugh...I feel like I always answer posts wrong. I didn't really pick up on the "winning" trust part of it, I read it more as how T behaved that allowed me to feel it was okay to sort of trust him. oh well

As far as Yalom, I find it fascinating to read about therapy from the T's perspective, but he seems like such an arrogant jerk.

I think we are getting stuck on "winning". I see "winning" as meaning to say "earning".
Or maybe "earning" and "encouraging".

You trust everyone equally?

I think that trust is built between what the therapist does and what the patient does. I don't think there's a formula, and I think it is different for different people.

As far as what the therapist does, imo, when I disclose information, I find it very important that he/she NOT use it against me to hurt me. That would be a breach of trust.

I think a therapist needs to be true to his word, if he makes promises, then he should keep them. To not do so would be breach of trust and damaging to the patient.

me but me. When a therapist presumes to know what I need, it can easily slip into the countertransferential area.

I have read in a book before, where a therapist stated that in no way would he just go with what they patient told him they needed. He included information from previous therapists, from family, etc. I am the only one who knows who I am. Period.

My T can't go with info from previous therapists, family, or anyone. He is in private practice and doesn't have access to my medical records or any info other than what I tell him. I like it that way.