[Lurker777]

Hello, everyone.

My therapist asked if I would be willing to bring my wife to a session (I didn't have a problem with this). However, after seeing several posts from other members here, it seems many of you have been asked to bring spouses and parents in as well.

Does anyone know why this is? I can't even remember why my T asked to meet my wife. Maybe to meet a relative and ensure I wasn't completely psycho? lol

[divine1966]

I don't understand bringing parents unless you are a minor. And bringing spouses is ok if you are in
Therapy for marital problems. Other than that I am not sure why

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Daystrom]

I'd like my T to meet my parents, sure, just not like this.

[AllHeart]

I can see bringing in a spouse, but not parents or siblings. Ironically, my siblings and parents recently asked if they could come to one of my therapy sessions so they could better understand what is going on with me. I told my T this and she basically said, "heck no!" I wouldn't have allowed or wanted it either, but it was nice to know my T felt the same way.

I think the biggest reason why I began trusting my t way back when is because she said one time that she would likely never want my h or any other family member to come into a session. She said "this is your sacred space." We got on the subject because I had told her about a previous t that I saw many years ago who insisted on my mother coming in and it was such a waste of my money. I remember it to this day. My mother sat there spouting about how wonderful of a parent she was. As my eyes were rolling back into my head and the t just sat there nodding pleasantly. I was too shy to call BS on both of them so I said nothing. I didn't see her very long after that.

I miss my t. Sigh.

[maykins]

She never asked to bring my H, but she did have the privilege of talking with my marriage T a few times (we have since finished our sessions) to get some insight on him and our relationship from a more neutral pov.

[SheHulk07]

T1 has requested my husband to come to a session last year when I was high risk for SH/SI. He came in for a session that ended terribly, and T hasn't asked since then thankfully.

T2 has said she'd like for my husband to come in, because she does marriage and family therapy, and said it would be nice to hear how H feels and thinks about me. We've been working together for almost 2 years, and it hasn't happened.

[stopdog]

I know a client of the first one I see took people to appointments with her. One was a friend of mine that was in a weird relationship with the client (dating/not dating off and on constantly)

I have no idea if it isn't marriage/relationship counseling. I agree with artemis' therapist. Therapy is MY sacred space and I don't want anyone else in it.

[eeyorestail]

Previously my husband had only come to my therapy sessions for emergency/crisis sessions when 1. I had trouble getting there on my own because I felt so bad and 2. I wanted my husband's support/opinion when we discussed the possibility of me going inpatient or to a PHP/IOP.

More recently my T suggested I bring my husband to my regular sessions because....I'm not sure? I went along with it and it was helpful sometimes and other times it was not.

I think the bottom line is you should never feel obligated to bring family. It's entirely up to you.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Lauliza]

My t doesn't think you should unless the issues you are in treatment for affect the family dynamic. Sometimes it helps if the spouse or other family members aren't supportive and need some help understanding wages going on. This is still usually done at the clients request, not the T's.

[Jessica Hazlitt]

A couple of weeks ago I asked if I could bring my partner as we were discussing in session his concerns with me and T, and how that was affecting me.

(Long story short it was a combination of finding out I find T sexually attractive, and the fact that we use touch in session).

However T said he would prefer not to do this as he felt it would be intruding on our space. I kind of get this, but I figured both of us allowing it as a one off to help with this one (big) problem would be worth it.

My plan was to let Partner meet T alone for maybe 10 minutes to talk about the therapeutic process and for P to ask any questions he might not want to in front of me. Then I would come in and sit with T in the way we usually do so P can see the set up and touch usage.

T did however suggest that P contact the organisation individually to speak to a different T so there is no conflict of interest, but the response he actually got to this was basically, kind of yes ok, but they couldn’t even confirm whether or not I was going there.

The whole thing has actually got me quite frustrated. Wish P could just do the 10 minute thing then it would be over,

[iheartjacques]

My husband went to one of my sessions so he could tell T how messed up I was. As I glad when T put him in his place and told him he had issues and needed a therapist

[PinkFlamingo99]

I had one insist once. I decided she was sadistic.

[InRealLife45]

Originally Posted by Lurker777

Hello, everyone.

My therapist asked if I would be willing to bring my wife to a session (I didn't have a problem with this). However, after seeing several posts from other members here, it seems many of you have been asked to bring spouses and parents in as well.

Does anyone know why this is? I can't even remember why my T asked to meet my wife. Maybe to meet a relative and ensure I wasn't completely psycho? lol

1) family therapy moves faster
2) your issues were derived from your family of origin and must be resolved there. If you bring in a spouse, its just a new family you've created bringing over the dysfunctional building blocks from your original family (parents, siblings) likely having recreated the emotional undercurrents you experienced with your parents.
3) you didnt get this way by yourself; its very helpful for T to see your family interactions to understand better

[Melan.cholia]

One reason: sadism.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[just2b]

I think it depends on what your in therapy for...some mental health disorders need to be explained and we as patients may not be able to give an understanding explaination. Sometimes it may be for psycho-education. Sometimes its just for learning and understanding purposes to gather more support.

Just depends on what your T has in mind...