[PeeJay]

I thought that these two blog posts, on therapist infighting and stealing content, were interesting.

In-fighting amongst therapists | Marina Williams, LMHC

Therapists stealing from other therapists | Marina Williams, LMHC

I think that therapist aggression, with clients and each other, may be common.

(Maybe it's common in lots of people? But, say, other professions have an outlet. Business people get to be competitive and athletes get to be physical and physical workers get to swing a hammer and lawyers get to express it via writing and at trials and stay at home parents drink lots of wine. I'm generalizing. But just a thought.)

Here is another post about psychologists trying to save face and trying to pretend that they are not aggressive.

Saving Face in Psychology | Psychology Today

I believe that I have been harmed by sub-level, veiled aggression on the part of a therapist. I believe that the therapist meant to punish me in a way, and did so via specific actions, though I could never prove it.

The therapist may not even have been aware of this regarding himself or herself.

Have you ever sensed aggression?

[HazelGirl]

I have not felt aggression against me, but I would guess that it can definitely happen, especially in a field where they are supposed to be calm all the time.

[SabinaS]

Well I guess there can be a competitive nature to therapy... like any other profession.

And yes, therapists can experience anger and aggression but good T's will have been through their own therapy and should be able to know what belongs to their own psyche and what the client has brought. That doesn't mean their own 'stuff' won't come up in sessions, but it should mean that they are able to know about it, so they can keep to themselves. This is why it's so important for therapists to have lots of therapy.

When you say you may have been harmed, what happened, what did your therapist do?

[PeeJay]

Originally Posted by SabinaS

When you say you may have been harmed, what happened, what did your therapist do?

Always issues around scheduling and occasionally around defending, or making excuses, for my abuser.

[Lauliza]

Originally Posted by PeeJay

Always issues around scheduling and occasionally around defending, or making excuses, for my abuser.

I'm sorry your therapist has hurt you this way. It can't be helpful for you.

[AllyIsHopeful]

I'm looking forward to reading these later.

I love how I'm able to keep busy with all of these blog posts, articles, and books being mentioned in the past few days!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CantExplain]

"Clinical trainees are socialized to act as if they are docile and mistake-free, a role that no human can pull off."

I think Madame T must have missed the lecture about being docile! She went to the one about being mistake-free, however.

[feralkittymom]

I think her thinking is the problem.

The truth is, no one’s better than anyone else[...]We’re all very good at what we do.

I think this is patent nonsense. There are good Ts and bad Ts; there are competent Ts, and mediocre Ts; there are highly intelligent and reflective Ts, and there are "cookbook" Ts. She refuses to recognize this.

Then she details being the victim of another T plagiarizing her web-site: rather than recognize such behavior as the product of poor academic training, and a lack of reflection on one's own behavior, and simply "requesting" that the info be deleted in lieu of legal action, she sees it as a personal slight and engages in pseudo-therapy with the offender! And then whines that the person didn't sufficient recognize her transgression.

So her "payment" for engaging therapeutically was that the offending content was finally removed, but she still feels aggrieved because the violator didn't show appropriate remorse? Well--if the offender were capable of that, she wouldn't have stolen the web content to begin with. Why is this T taking responsibility for the offender's lack of insight? And she wants to be congratulated for behaving, in her eyes, more "ethically" and "benignly" than all those back-biting Ts whose behavior she so deplores?

I can only imagine how she twists her clients in their treatment. I read through a bunch of her entries, and there's a subtle thread through many of them about feeling unappreciated, seeking approval from clients, and seeing herself as deserving of more respect than she seems often to feel.

And for the life of me, I can't find any details of her own training/licensing. Seems like if she's using a web-site to build a practice, including such information would be a responsible choice. Unless she thinks clients don't need to have such info because "we're all very good."

[CantExplain]

She does seem a bit shallow, certainly.

[PeeJay]

I do see some of the issues that FeralKittyMom highlights. There's a bit of arrogance there, though I think other T's might have it and just hide it better.

I've read Marina's blog since it started and she does have strong opinions. But I appreciate her insights into a therapist's mind. She writes for other therapists, which is so fascinating to me.

I'm willing to cut her some slack because she puts herself out there, which is hard to do. I will give her this: her blog posts are not boring.

My biggest problem with the blog is that she misuses "you're" and "your" nearly every time. It makes me cringe because it's so unprofessional and she is marketing herself as a professional.

[brillskep]

Interesting. I've only once in four years of therapy felt my therapist didn't have my best interest in mind (and I still wouldn't say aggression). But he usually (if not always) lets me know if he is frustrated or angry at me. Yep, he just goes and says it and brings himself really into the room like that. It's only now that i notice, this calm expression of anger makes it so that it is brought into both our awareness and he doesn't play mind games or attack me in subtle unconscious ways or anything. That hadn't occurred to me before.

My therapist is in therapy himself so I think that also helps keep himself in check. I can see a huge difference between him and other therapists who have never been in therapy themselves.

[stopdog]

I think if a therapist is getting angry at a client, the therapist is way too involved. Certainly way more invested in what I do than I want a therapist to be in me.