[PeeJay]

The sand tray thread gave me this idea.

It really bugs me that my therapist has a basket of tchotchke toys in her office and a bunch of stuffed animals, too.

Like, there are little green plastic soldiers and McDonald's happy meal toys and other figurines in a basket. I asked her what they were for and she said people set them around and talk to them and pretend they are family members.

She also has stuffed animals in her office. I almost can't even picture the stuffed animals right now because the idea of them aggravates me so much.

Does this bother anyone else? What does this say about *me* that I am bothered?

I'm embarrassed by it. I mean, we're adults and here she has all these toys.

She does not see children or even adolescents. She does therapy with individual adults and couples only.

[HazelGirl]

I like that my T has that type of stuff. I would like to get up the courage to ask if I can look through them one day, but I haven't yet.

I don't know what it says about you. Maybe you strongly dislike that child-like, curious side to yourself?

Do you ever feel like child in there?

[ChildlikeEmpress]

I would love it if my T had toys in her office. One of my old T's would let me hug a teddy bear in session and I liked it. But, I am a very childlike person in general and am not embarrassed about it -- perhaps you are not childlike, so it bothers you. That's probably why she has toys though, because many people have a childlike side and they find it comforting. It doesn't have to mean anything wrong about you, you just don't resonate with that sort of thing.

[Ad Intra]

An old t told me she kept toys in a closet in her office. I used to wish I could play with them.

[angelene]

My psychiatrist has all sorts of figurines, toys, stuffed animals, etc. of a certain animal. I believe some of them are gifts from patients. I would be in big trouble if they bothered me because once you get in that office, you are surrounded!

[~Christina]

My T has a old box of lincoln logs in his office only because a client he sees must bring her young child. Thats it.

The rest of his office is stacks of books all around,and a bit dusty, Its reminds of an old book store, the comforting smell .. I could spend decades in old book stores.

I often tell him to never clean his office LOL . He's been in it 20 something years, I like the messiness ..I would not like a sterile looking office. Maybe I am weird

I saw one whose office was packed with crappy little plastic toys. All I could think was how dirty it was. I would hate to think that lots of people had been handling them. It's bad enough to consider the dust.

[Birds of a Feather]

My therapist doesn't see children, only adolescents and adults, so he doesn't have toys in his office. There used to be a teddy bear, but it isn't there anymore that I have seen.

[pbutton]

My T does play therapy and sand tray work. Normally I enjoy looking around at everything.

Tonight he had a small gorilla on his desk next to his laptop. It pissed me off to no end. I somehow decided it was there for some other client who receives far more concern and care than me.

No idea where this came from. For all I know he picked it up off the floor and set it there himself. I wish I'd thought to mention it, but I was too busy being SUPER pissed.

[ThisWayOut]

I miss the toys in the office. My previous t did lots of work with kids and adolescents, so her office had all sorts of toys and games. It was nice to have her stuffed dog to hug when I felt uncomfortable.
Current t doesn't have an office of her own, she shares spaces (and we bounce between rooms depending which she is assigned to that hour), so everything has to be brought with her and taken out again after each session. I miss the toys sometimes...

[unaluna]

I'll never grow up, never grow up; never gonna grow up, not me!

[sweepy62]

My former t had toys, like puzzles and Legos, we played and colored, it helped me open up. This doesn't , but what pissed me off was that the client before me, must have had a baby and there was a pacifier on the floor. It really bothered me.

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[junkDNA]

my T has toys. he let me take one as a transitional object. its a stuffed animal moose. i still have it. i sleep with it. he knows that. i like his toys. i have given him toys for his office. we play cards sometimes too.

[growlycat]

CBT T has tons of toys and stuffed animals in the office.

At first, it made me feel badly because I bet he saw kids as patients. To me, I could see him enjoying working w/kids more than adults.

As I got to know him, it became obvious that the toys annoy him. He shares a temp office space with a child psych intern who seems to have taken over the room.

It makes me smile now, because it seems funny!!

[stopdog]

I would not continue to see a therapist who had toys out. I interviewed one who had all of these extremely unsettling stuffed animals stuck everywhere. I don't think I lasted the whole time before telling her it would not work and leaving.
If it helps some people, then great, I just choose not to see therapists who have toys or stuffed animals around.
I have even told the woman, when she has inquired, that the lack of stuffed animals was one of the reasons I continue.

[JustShakey]

I never thought too much of the toys in T's office - he works with kids too. I do tend to look at them a lot while I'm talking. He did ask me once if anything in the room bothered me. I didn't think much of it at the time.
Part of me would really like to sit on the floor and play while another part would be embarrassed. I was starting to sort of move in this direction - I told T that I feel like sitting on the floor. But then my current situation happened. Can't be a child now. Maybe that's why I've been angry...

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[Xenon]

Mine doesn't have anything like that, but I don't think I'd like it very much either if she did. I do get a bit ooged out when I read about things like this going on in the therapy office (cuddling stuffed animals, etc.). I remember my first counselling experience when I was 15, I didn't like when my counsellor did things like ask me if I wanted to draw, or spoke in a soft, whispery voice, or used childish language like describing a feeling as "yucky."

I think for me it was about self-consciousness...I was very socially anxious at this time, and just coming in there was a huge ordeal. I hated the idea that I would look weak or childish to her, like some scared, helpless little girl, and being treated in this way made me self-conscious about the fact that I probably did.

So it might have something to do with the discomfort with the idea of being childlike and vulnerable, or being thought of that way.

[lone_77]

My T has a separate space for young kids, and I can see it as I leave her main office. But she does have a few toys on her desk and during my last session I actually asked if I could have one to mess with for the hour because as I talk I always fiddle with my jewelry to the point of breaking it. But that's the purpose of the ones she has on her desk; I think they're made specifically for use while talking. She even uses them sometimes if she has to do a lot of explaining. I think stuffed animals in the room would bother me though. Don't want em looking at me.

[IndestructibleGirl]

There's none in the room I go to, but cute cuddly toys wouldn't bother me. Nor would nicely crafted toys. I'd find them endearing and sweet.

Cheap, tasteless, plastic bit and pieces, I'd ignore. They would slightly irritate me if I focused on them. I'd find them depressing. To me they would be hallmarks of the kind of parent I don't want to be - I want my future children to come first, and have the absolute best of everything, not just material stuff, but toys would be symbolic of it.

I am quite sure this says something about my stuff because of course, I know young children are often just as thrilled with cheap toys (or the box they come in!) as expensive, well-made toys.

Could you be having some kind of roundabout reaction like this?

[BadWolf]

It sounds like they are tools for the therapist. She uses them to help people who like to talk to toys.
She probably doesn't play with them, or expect you to.

[PeeJay]

So many of the responses on this thread made me laugh. I like reading all the reactions to toys!

Originally Posted by HazelGirl

I don't know what it says about you. Maybe you strongly dislike that child-like, curious side to yourself?

I don't mind being curious or childlike in other settings. But also, I wonder if it disturbs me that adults go in there and play with toys.

Originally Posted by Brown Owl

Do you ever feel like child in there?

Yes, sometimes I feel a lot younger than I am.

Originally Posted by pbutton

Tonight he had a small gorilla on his desk next to his laptop. It pissed me off to no end. I somehow decided it was there for some other client who receives far more concern and care than me.

THIS is part of it for me! Like, other clients are getting something that I'm not getting, or other clients are able to be vulnerable in a way that I can not, or that there's some element of therapy that I'm missing out on because I don't want to play with toys.

She never even suggests touching the toys. And maybe she knows better than to suggest it. But WHY HASN'T SHE? Am I not good enough for toys?

It's almost like I want her to suggest it so I can pooh-pooh it. Funny.

Originally Posted by sweepy62

My former t had toys, like puzzles and Legos, we played and colored, it helped me open up. This doesn't , but what pissed me off was that the client before me, must have had a baby and there was a pacifier on the floor. It really bothered me.

A pacifier would bother me, too.

Originally Posted by IndestructibleGirl

There's none in the room I go to, but cute cuddly toys wouldn't bother me. Nor would nicely crafted toys. I'd find them endearing and sweet.

Cheap, tasteless, plastic bit and pieces, I'd ignore. They would slightly irritate me if I focused on them. I'd find them depressing. To me they would be hallmarks of the kind of parent I don't want to be - I want my future children to come first, and have the absolute best of everything, not just material stuff, but toys would be symbolic of it.

I am quite sure this says something about my stuff because of course, I know young children are often just as thrilled with cheap toys (or the box they come in!) as expensive, well-made toys.

Could you be having some kind of roundabout reaction like this?

This is such an interesting theory. I do think the toys are gross and cheap, and not carefully thought out, and the stuffed animals are gross.

I mean, how many people cry into that stupid rabbit and then it gets put right back for the next client.

At least tissues can't be reused or shared among clients.

If I picked up a toy, I'd want it to be new and untouched and unslimed by some former client.

I surprise myself with how much I care!

[dark_sweetie]

It doesn't bother me at all. Still having to get over the shame of having actually become a child in front of T though. :c

[Ford Puma]

Toys' en'bears. Nop I cant say their are any toys or Teddies in the place I used go. I think their was in the passed 2 kind of scary looking dolls once. Those ones with the cords that can be used to control them. A long time back that was.
Puppets... thats the word I was looking for.

[Jordy]

In one of my T's offices there's a whole corner with a puppet house, stuffed animals, books and all kind of toys. It doesn't bother me at all because I know it's not her's. It belongs to another T she shares the office with and who works with children.
Actually there's one book that I'd like to read but never dared to ask to...