[atisketatasket]

Is there anything you've told your therapist that seems completely trivial or irrelevant to you or you said off the cuff, yet they have made a point of writing it down or made a big deal of it otherwise? Did they explain why?

I once complained to DBC, after putting my punching bag stand together, that despite a year of fairly serious weightlifting I apparently could not lift a dead weight of 70 lbs. a few feet over my head to hang it on a hook. She very painstakingly wrote this down, in fact stopped talking while she was doing it (not usual).

[anais_anais]

yes for M and L, mostly (always?) career-related things that seem normal to me but are apparently bat**** crazy to everyone else

[junkDNA]

I told him I wanted to be a cat and he started in with all these questions about why... Being taken care of... No responsibilities... Etc. It was humorous but annoying

[junkDNA]

Oh and when I was hearing voices and I thought it was my grandfather he asked me if I want an exorcism all.. The. Time.

Like c'mon T you're not even religious and neither am i

[ruh roh]

It's not odd, necessarily, but I had a couple that wanted to focus almost exclusively on family members' addictions--educating me about them, etc. I was like, uh...I actually have problems of my own and their addictions are not my issue. It was pointless. Made me wonder if they were recovering addicts or something because they were so relentless about how I needed to understand how it works. I told one that she was making it seem that her life was more important than mine.

I don't really count this lady as a T, but my freshman year of high school I had to see the school psychologist on a regular basis or they were going to kick me out. She was obsessed with my physical appearance. Like, if I would put in just a little bit of effort then I would magically feel better.

So not only did that not work, but I developed an unhealthy obsession with exercise that I still struggle with sometimes.

Pdoc mentioned he can tell I'm uneasy because my feet was pointing away from him.

He also suggests I learn to put on makeup. Every freaking time I see him.

[mccarrolmike]

Being at a brand new T, she asked all my questions of the symptoms of my depression.
When she asked me my age, I said 33.
She gave me the most uncomfortable stare lasting a minute.
Her jaw dropped. I smiled at first but that smile was never returned. She just couldn't believe I was my age. She told me that I did it look at all.
It was my first time, that I wasn't complemented.
It was the most awkwardest minute of my life.

[growlycat]

My long term t told me that most patients are weird about money. He once asked a patient how much her shirt had cost and she was offended. He said he could never understand why people would tell him the kinkiest stuff regarding sex but money was somehow taboo.

[LostOnTheTrail]

P was incredibly good at bringing the trivial or WTF into our sessions...in the end, it just showed how useless I had become at actually advocating for myself and my needs. Luckily, R has been respectful and appropriate throughout the last few months of our work.

Context: describing 'normal' responses to trauma...

'It's like when baby cows are taken away from their mothers. The first night, the mooing keeps you awake, the second night you still hear it, the third night it's a little less...and by the fourth night you don't hear it at all.'

P also tried to divert our conversations into family history, as an obvious attempt to talk about something she was more comfortable working with. :/

My sessions with Abusive ex T were outside in woodland. He spent most of every session going on and on about culling deer, rabbits and shooting his pigs. He spent so much time trying to teach me to stalk deer. In winter when our sessions were in the dark he would bring a lamping tourch instead of a normal tourch, but then wouldnt use it much because the batteries were too expensive. At the time I just thought he was being deeply inappropriate (I'm a veggie and have zero interest in killing stuff) and a bit ocd on hunting. I understand better now the psychological manipulation he was implementing.

[feileacan]

Originally Posted by QuietMind

He also suggests I learn to put on makeup. Every freaking time I see him.

Have you asked him why he suggests that? If it would be my T then I would definitely ask because such insistence would make me very curious.

Originally Posted by feileacan

Have you asked him why he suggests that? If it would be my T then I would definitely ask because such insistence would make me very curious.

I've asked and his reason is that men will find me more attractive if I do. I however, have no interest in drawing male attention to myself - I find it scary. He knows that, but does keep suggesting. Another possible reason is he likely guesses (correctly) that my bare face and androgynous dressing doesn't do me any favours in my corporate workplace.

[Amyjay]

I once told my therapist that it took me a long time to buy groceries, sometimes i would wander around the store in a daze. Now she asks me every time I go how long i took at the grocery store that week and writes notes about it in my file. It really isn't a big deal it is such a minor insignificant detail in the context of my life but she seems to think the length of time spent in the grocery store is of supreme importance. Her obsession with it fascinates me.

[nottrustin]

There are s couple of things I told her a few years ago that she still remembers and will periodically. There first thing was about an incident that happened when I was firstmarried. Hubby and I got into our first disagreement so I left our house to go for a ride. Hubby freaked out and called my mom afraid that I left him. Mom reassured him I would be home before dark. T was amazed that mom and huby were close enough that his first thought was to call her.

The other thing was when my kids toddlers and mom was terminally ill I would go to her house everyday with the kids to care for her. One day mom said that I was the mom she wished she could gave been. It was, sweet and I will always remember it as she was a great mom. T seems to think it is a much bigger deal than I do. I just told her avoid it in response to a question. T was amazed. I never asked why but I suspect it is because T and her mom have her been close. T has as minimal contact as possible.

[LonesomeTonight]

The first thing I thought of was when I started a marriage counseling session mentioning I had a job interview the next day. MC was like, "Can I give you some advice for the interview?" and I was like, "Uh, OK." And he spent the rest of the session pretty much giving me job interview advice. It's not like it was my first job interview or something.

Though I did learn why MC often clutches a pen in his hand despite never taking notes or having a notepad--it's to keep from talking too much with his hands (he gave me that advice for the interview).

Incidentally, the interview went fairly well, but I didn't get the job.

My therapist consistently "remembers" I'm pants at chemistry, where in actuality, I'm pants at physics. We both laugh at it when she mixes those two up.

[toomanycats]

My T has a tendency to sometimes go off into what I call "woo-woo land."
Once, when I had become overloaded and lapsed into a silence from which I couldn't seem to escape, he went on and on about how magical it was to be in the right here/right now and "like, look at the shadow on the floor of those leaves. See how the shadow is moving and dancing? Isn't it amazing that we get to be right here right now to see those shadow leaves dancing."

I'm sitting there thinking "What the actual **** are you talking about..."

Or once he was going on and on about how "nothing can threaten our essential wholeness" ... he totally lost me, and I was so aggravated. But, we've only been working together 2 months. These "not jiving" times are rare. I tend to be a bit "woo woo" myself -- just not ALWAYS.

[kecanoe]

Originally Posted by QuietMind

I've asked and his reason is that men will find me more attractive if I do. I however, have no interest in drawing male attention to myself - I find it scary. He knows that, but does keep suggesting. Another possible reason is he likely guesses (correctly) that my bare face and androgynous dressing doesn't do me any favours in my corporate workplace.

I think it is creepy that a pdoc tells you to wear makeup so that men will find you more attractive. I would not appreciate that at all-unless I were specifically asking about attracting men. Why would pdoc assume you want to attract men? And why would you want someone who liked you because you wore makeup? Ugh.

[lucozader]

Originally Posted by QuietMind

I've asked and his reason is that men will find me more attractive if I do. I however, have no interest in drawing male attention to myself - I find it scary. He knows that, but does keep suggesting. Another possible reason is he likely guesses (correctly) that my bare face and androgynous dressing doesn't do me any favours in my corporate workplace.

That is... so wrong. You do not exist to be attractive to men and it is none of your pdoc's business how much make-up you choose to wear. What the ****?!

Sorry to derail your thread but I am so angry at your pdoc QM, I want to punch him in the nose

[Argonautomobile]

I wonder if he tells his male clients to wax.

[dermald]

I think my therapist is focusing on a completely pointless and irrelevant place.

I'm a Codependent who ended up getting emotionally manipulated by an online "friend" who claimed to have cancer. She scammed me out of a ton of money, ruined my reputation, and forced me to start my life over.

I went to see the therapist about how I can start over, because I'm horrible at making new friends, but even more challenging is the idea of building a life with NO friends, professional referrals, or contacts.

He said, "You don't seem to be suffering from Autism or any type of learning disability. I think we should test your intelligence, and figure out why you fell for this."

It's as if I talked about being emotionally manipulated for hours, and he completely ignored it.

[Argonautomobile]

Originally Posted by dermald

He said, "You don't seem to be suffering from Autism or any type of learning disability. I think we should test your intelligence, and figure out why you fell for this."

What the actual ****? This is ghastly.

[dermald]

Originally Posted by Argonautomobile

What the actual ****? This is ghastly.

I was wondering if I was the only one thinking this.