Inexplicably angry at T?

Just wondering -- does anyone else feel inexplicable rage at their therapist?

There's of course anger that's related to something the T did / said but the sort of anger (rage actually) I'm talking about has no apparent underlying reason.

I do understand the usual reasoning around how the T is someone safe to feel / express anger at whereas the folks one should really be feeling angry at aren't so safe etc. But, I'm not sure that covers all of it (or maybe it does and I'm just in denial....who knows?).

To wit, I honestly have no idea how to deal with this (and yes, have mentioned it to my therapist etc). So, was wondering if others have experienced it and if yes, what came of it?

I find mine is explicable - but I handle it by telling the woman how she has failed in great detail and writing short stories where I kill her off in gruesome cartoonishly violent ways.

Does the second one inspire an equal amount of rage...uhh...creativity in you? (I'm exercising a great deal of restraint and not ending with a blinky thing here.)

The second one does not. And has thus avoided demise in short story form.

Yes , I've felt it a few times , but it wasn't him really , the feelings came from elsewhere. I'm used to people being totally unreasonable , and he's really reasonable so I was feeling " You're being so bloody reasonable I could have a go at you ! " It's not really inexplicable and I talked to my T about it ( I nearly attacked him once over something that wasn't him either ). I think they do understand these feelings have other origins.

I have felt inexplicable rage, but not at my therapist. To be honest, though, it usually becomes explicable. So maybe there is something stirring underground that your therapist is triggering or getting too close to for your comfort?

I always have a reason to be angry at my therapists. But a couple months ago I took a leaf out of SD's book and wrote a short story about a therapist, only the therapist was the murderer. (I was going for an O Henry/Shirley Jackson ending.)

But rr is right, there may be something underneath. At the risk of provoking explicable rage - perhaps she is getting too close?

For me this tends to happen after sessions that have not gone well. My frustration/anger about it gets redirected to T because I tend to idealise her and put her up on a pedestal so when she is unable to live up to my (unrealistic) expectations I get angry and disappointed at her.

I have felt what I thought was inexplicable rage but usually the t said something that irked me.

I agree theres probably a plic!

This happens OFTEN to me. The last time it happened, a week ago, I emailed T that I was seeing patterns. I think I get angry at him in the aftermath of having made myself very vulnerable to him (telling him something of a sensitive nature, perhaps getting tearful). I'm ok in session, but after I go home, I am pissed, and it gets worse as the days go on. I think this is a very young part of me that is not receiving the degree of comfort I feel I want/need/deserve. Whatever secret I have divulged surely warrants something more than what I am getting. The anger I feel is VERY young.

Oh gawd....it only took about 15 mins for me to 'get' your plic. I take that as a real achievement.

Yes. Most defiantly.


Awesome, maybe I should try this one. Rather than leaving the images in my head.

Is "plic" short for explication?

That's further than I went -- I just took the plic out of the inexplicable.

I clearly can't make a living out of decoding Una-ese

She's like the Delphic Oracle. Only a few people can definitely understand her.

And we are not among the privileged. Except when she's discussing underg's.

I often felt disproportional rage at my first therapist towards the end but it was always triggered by something he said or did. He would explain it as a transference reaction, being originally angry at my mother, and I think there was something in that as he did remind me of my mom in some (negative) ways while often said he was trying to provide nurture I did not get from her (which I thought ridiculously simplistic and superficial). But I think it was often displaced anger and frustration about myself projected onto him, that I felt I was running in circles and got worse rather than better. Was also frustrated that he did not or could not help me with a major issue I had. According to his therapeutic approach, feeling and expressing intense anger toward the therapist should be very beneficial as an expression of frustration we normally turn inward or repress. I did not find it very helpful, it more destroyed the therapy to fight and not address "the elephant in the room". I do believe though it can be helpful for someone who has a lot of unprocessed anger and frustration or tend to be excessively self-deprecating without an apparent reason.

Never felt anything like that toward my second therapist, not even normal anger except some very fleeting and mild form maybe twice.

I would probably try to identify triggers of the anger if simply expressing it is not helpful enough. I imagine there are triggers that initiate it even if the reaction itself feels out of proportion or inappropriate.