Has a therapist ever said anything that you did not already know?

Sometimes the woman's responses might as well be "beavers don't usually eat fish" in terms of how relevant what she says is to what I am saying.
But I did know it already.

Hahaha!

Yes, that was all new information to me.

I learned something new from argonautomobile's therapist today. 😉

me too! hahaha.

i'm trying to think of things my T said that I didn't already know...she has educated me a bit on my type of depression, even if I don't fully believe it.

Today she did tell me that even in 2 year olds (the population i work with), it is the testosterone that makes them more active and bit crazier than the girls. I was like "really! i thought that only effected teenage boys!" I guess not.

I sometimes suspect he finds it a very flattering experience to be able to answer a question.��

So maybe we're talking about abstract knowledge vs. practical knowledge too?

For instance, when No. 3 said once, "in some ways you are very resilient and in other ways not so resilient"...well, I know that, and that kind of statement is what I thought the poll referred to.

But No. 3 also once told me about brainspotting, which I did not know existed. I don't count that as telling me something I don't already know in the therapeutic context. Because I'm the topic of conversation in therapy.

Fair distinction. New information--about myself in the therapeutic context (at least as told explicitly by the therapist to me) is certainly more rare in my experience. But the sorts of things you could Google--What is Brainspotting? Do beavers eat fish? Where do I file my taxes?--I learn that sort of thing all the time. It's one of my favorite things about therapy.

I did have a therapist who said a few "right things, right time." However this is outweighed by the numerous times others said utterly wrong, utterly stupid things with attitudes of utter infallibility.

Yes on few occasions

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am a little unsure on how to answer the question because of the abstract vs. practical stuff. The most (and only) useful stuff my therapist has told me are stuff around evidence related to some aspect of mental health that is relevant to me.

Some examples --
a. Research has shown that X is very common among teenagers (when I was telling her about being wracked by guilt over stuff I did as a teenager).

b. Or, many studies have shown that Y is an evolutionary trait / function and is hard-wired among humans -- so, what you're telling me is contrary to biology and needs to be looked at.

c. Or, person A in your life appears to suffer from this specific mental health issue based on what you've described -- if it helps, you could look at their behavior in that context to help you understand them.

So, yeah, this stuff is abstract but is also specific to my context.

Other than that, no, I've not heard anything useful. So, I mostly have to (very literally) stop myself from rolling my eyes when she launches into the usual never-ending set of cliches and banalities (which is very very often).

ETA: So, I answered 'other'.

I really did not expect this to be a complicated question.
Learn something new everyday (but for me - not from the therapist)

Is it actually a complicated question...or are we just making it complicated?

Actually yes... & this was kind-of funny in a telling way... In addition to struggling with depression & anxiety, I've always struggled with gender identity dysphoria. I never did anything about it. But I always felt as though I should have been female. Way back when I was born, no one ever talked about such things. The terms transgender & transsexual hadn't even been coined.

So, to make a long story short, I talked about this with my last therapist. I don't recall what the jist of the conversation was, but along the way she said: "Well, you know you don't have the most masculine walk..." No one had EVER said that to me! But, in retrospect, I wondered if that was part of the reason I kept getting beat up in high school...

Yes, with my old T I ended with she was always telling me things and insights I did not know. I was always learning from her. I miss that.

My T sometimes tells me similar things and sometimes that´s a bit annoying as she won´t convince me about some kind of change because she says things several times. But at the same time I think it´s natural as I bring similar problems and actions up several times.

Hang on, beavers don't eat fish? Are you sure?

Apparently they do eat fish.

Argo, I think you should ask for your money back for that session! And maybe look into any tips he gives you on the stock market before buying...

I'm going to ask my T on Monday
She will definitely know

ETA though beaver is used as a term for something quite different in UK, so actually I might not ask her...

I think we use it the same way over here.

The beavers have hijacked this thread. Sorry, SD!

I need to re-evaluate a few decisions I've made....

It is why in my reply, I said they don't usually eat fish - it seems to depend upon the beaver and the location and the fish.
Beavers, like my question, are more complicated than they may first appear.

Gleason, J. S., R. A. Hoffman and J. M. Wendland. 2005. Beavers, Castor canadensis, feeding on salmon carcasses: Opportunistic use of a seasonally superabundant food source. The Canadian Field Naturalist 119: 591-593.

I am surprised at the yes votes. But I was surprised at the turn the question took too (not the beaver part - that was just silly). I tend to think the one I see is wily and manipulative - not an idiot - but maybe she really is.

Maybe you just know everything already--and I don't mean that snidely or anything. You're highly educated and have apparently picked up lots of information even outside your field--like the dietary habits of beavers...

I'm in my twenties and was stoned for most of my (sub-par) education. Everybody has something to say that I haven't already learned.

I agree - the therapist is only half of the equation in the question. Age and experience of both therapist and client would play a role.

If this were a real poll, the crosstabs might reveal more than the actual percentages.