How does your therapist react when you bring up psych related stuff you've read?

Mine is distinctly displeased.

I get that (yes, from reading ironically) the concern may be that it interferes with the process of therapy.

But, wondering how common such a concern is?

ETA: This would be anything related to psychology -- so, not necessarily related to therapy.

I don't know b/c my T is just so open to anything. I am really lucky to be able to work with someone like her.
I don't understand how it would interfere with the process of therapy. Is it b/c it could distract you from the current therapeutic path you are on? Or is it something else?

I don't bring up things I've read.

But when I refer to therapy as a cabal, No. 1 would get offended, No. 2 would laugh, and I haven't tried it out on No. 3 yet.

T knows I read a lot...some of it is work related and I either I read something or even one of my coworker pdocs will say something or a I read because I research, I also frequently read some of the psych magazines (she occasionally will also give me articles to read). She is always open to discussing it. Sometimes she will explain that it may or may not pertain to me and why. She want me to be educated on myself and knows I gain a lot of knowledge through reading and discussing it with her

The time I handed a two page list of books I had read recently to the first one and she said I had read more than she had - I admitted this did not surprise me. The second one reads more than the first and asked me if there were any on the list I thought she should read. But the second one is better read than the first just in general. The first has suggested non-therapy texts for me to read or therapy-like-light (Brene Brown and book written by someone who had been kidnapped and one other) but when I asked what the purpose of me reading them would be - she refused to explain and so I did not (I had read brene brown prior to meeting the first one - and am not a fan of her writing -but I love her voice and sometimes fall asleep listening to her speak)

Neither displayed any dismay nor did they openly discourage it. Whether from lack of interest in what I read or from knowing I would not count their opinion in deciding what to do - I do not know.

My therapist has recommend the books I have and she even bought one of them herself recently so we can read it together. She loves that I read stuff to help myself or to help the therapy process and she always encourages me to read about certain things.

From what I remember reading, the concern in psychodynamic therapy is something along the lines of one's responses becoming more inhibited / not spontaneous etc.

I don't think I've brought up things I've read. I think she would be open to it. She has recommended a few books to me.

I feel my T respond positively , but he doesn't always entirely agree with what other people say ( and we don't always agree with each other either ). It gives me insight and we discuss it. I'm not always good at verbalizing my feelings , or even knowing what they are sometimes , so I go " This resonates with me " and he's able to see it.

I don't think i would bring up what i am reading related to therapy (currently reading Attachment in Psychotherapy by Wallin), it makes me anxious to think about! I think she'd be fine with it, she did lend me a Brene Brown book early on in therapy.

My T has discouraged me from reading a few things not so much about the therapeutic process but because of the triggering nature of the topic. I started to read a book about a person's personal journey through dealing with CSA. She noticed that it was triggering me so she encouraged me to reconsider reading it.

Mine gave me a reading list before I scheduled, so I don't think he would likely be upset if I mentioned something from those books.

I read a ton though (I have a very carefully organized library of more than 1,000 electronic textbooks, some of which I've read through a few times already!). If I'm curious about something I read, I usually end up trying to ask in roundabout way (no formal terminology / jargon, no references, etc.). I don't trust myself to have high-level conversations in realtime, so this approach seems to work best for me.

I have slipped up once previously though (when talking to PCP, she offered to print out article from medical reference, and I accidentally told her I'd already read it). It seemed to make her nervous, so I do regret sharing that information, but there were parts of it that were nice (mostly being able to talk without a filter -- felt way more authentic!).

My T's totally fine with it and encourages it. If she finds something that she thinks might intrest me, she'll email it to me to read. For me, feeling like I don't have to dumb myself down is a must have quality in a therapist.

I don't read much psych-related stuff. The most I did was early on when I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder; I read quite a bit about that.

My therapist did recommend a couple of books along the way that I did read. One was particularly helpful; the other was meh. I just have very little interest in reading that kind of thing.

T is willing to discuss it with me. She's more concerned with some of the giving not very helpful information.

Pdoc gave me a website so I could download a flyer about clozapine that was on it. However on that website you could also download the guideline doctor's use with prescribing clozapine. So I read that one too. Pdoc was amused when I told him.

I sometimes mention articles I read to my T, and sometimes we discuss them or laugh about them.

Anytime I've mentioned anything I've read, T has been open to discussing it. I think she thinks of it as and "opportunity".

Perhaps it differs on the reasons one is reading. I read their textbooks in order to try to figure out how it was supposed to work and what the woman was trying to do at me. I was never reading to figure anything out about me.

That is a rather interesting point. My experience was as follows (I no longer mention things I've read in therapy):

1. Stuff related to understanding myself better (E.g. Harlow's monkey experiments, scapegoating, avoidant/fearful attachment type etc):
These were usually concepts the therapist had mentioned in the previous session. So, in my enthusiasm, I'd gone and read up a whole lot on it during the intervening week and was eager to discuss the insights I'd had (which were actually pretty helpful) in the next session.

I got a series of responses ranging from how I was constantly questioning the direction of therapy to being told I was trying to please her to trying too hard rather than letting things be (so, repeating patterns etc). But, basically no discussion at all happened and we moved on to other topics.

Honestly, none of those reasons were true for me (at least consciously) and I tried explaining but it didn't go anywhere and harping on it (given the $$ rate) didn't seem worth it ultimately.

2. Stuff not related to understanding myself better: This is just random stuff I've read (not mentioned by the therapist). When I referred to it though, I was told I was intellectualizing and so, repeatedly asked to focus on my emotions. But, again, no discussion etc.

So, it's been rather interesting for me to see the responses from others.

I think this is a very good point!

A lot of the textbooks that I read/refer to are ones that are very relevant to current issues in therapy (before intake appointment, for instance, I was mostly reading books about clinical and diagnostic interviewing techniques, but now have switched more to motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, etc.).

In many cases, I don't think I've really been genuinely interested in these topics, but probably more likely a misguided attempt to reduce anticipatory anxiety about therapy in general. In other areas of my life, I follow a similar approach (e.g. if I'm going to get my haircut, then I probably will spend a while reading books geared towards hair stylists beforehand because I feel that the advice/information in there might help me to understand what I need to do to be a "good" customer). In therapy, it is similar (I try very much to be a "good" client -- e.g. not too "difficult", motivated to change, optimistic, etc.).

I also have expectation that therapy should, in theory, be more easily understood than ordinary social interactions. This is highly appealing to me. I think I am pretty sensitive to the knowledge/power imbalances in therapy and sort of believe that I can even the playing field (somewhat, at least) by pretty intensely studying relevant issues in my own time. If therapists are trained to respond in certain ways, then I feel I should be capable of learning why/how they will respond to me, and I can substantially reduce my anxiety about not knowing exactly what to expect.

Unfortunately, I've found that this method has been relatively unsuccessful, so far (most therapists that I've worked with have been at least somewhat unpredictable, despite initial claims of being very highly structured, evidence-based, etc.).

One concern can be that talking in theory prevents the client from talking about their real life and struggles, in real terms that are meaningful to them.So discussing theory can be a way of avoiding painful topics that are much closer to home than readings, science, etc. That is the explanation a professor I had in grad school gave. Personally, though, I believe that a good therapist knows how to tactfully help you back to what's relevant for you at a pace that is adequate. I also think this explanation may be prejudicial to some clients. I know people whom books have helped a lot in their self-discovery and growth and I think it would be counter-productive not to talk about those books if it's helpful.

For me, it is not so much that I wanted to read books about how therapy works or what the therapist was supposed to be doing and why- it was that the woman would not tell me so I had to go elsewhere to try and find the information. Reading and consulting others is how I got the information I needed. It would have been a lot more direct and worked out better if the woman had not refused.

My current T, very positively. Seems to believe that the more one understands about how therapy is supposed to work, the more beneficial the work actually is.

Ex-T, totally different story, although I wasn't reading much about therapy while in therapy with him, only at the very end when my head was spinning and I was searching for answers or at least to confirm that I wasn't "crazy". Recall bringing up an article about doctor and patient writing about their experiences of a therapy session and then sharing them with one another, and his response was condescending and not at all positive.

My current T is more than happy, and has unsolicited by me, explained how various aspects of therapy should work (i.e. the frame, dependency (it's ok), sexual feelings (ok), etc.), which I have found more than comforting.

He said "why don't you see one of those T's then"
(The fact that most of them were / are the other side of the globe.... )

He sounds incredibly insecure. Not a good attribute for a therapist to have.