What are the types of therapy clients?

And those who do it "just because everybody else does"?

You are too funny.

I have no idea what other people's types may be, but I know mine -- a devoted therapy client because I know I need to change and desperately want to, yet I am too stubborn to do so.
I'm like walking clickbait: Therapists Hate Her! Click Here To See Why ---->

Lemmings?

There are a lot of that type in Manhattan.

I suppose there's also the Scared of Getting Attached (But Will Probably Wind Up Getting Attached Anyway) client.

I think I can be many "types", depending on the actual T, what we are doing, what my opinions are. But definitely agnostic, somewhat detached, skeptical (but I do not always voice this), and like to talk about/analyzing therapy more than engaging in actual therapy deeply. I also tend to use it in unorthodox ways, the way I want, which can make inflexible and dogmatic Ts clueless and upset.

But I had phases when I was pretty agreeable, positive about the T and willing to go along... these just never last long for me.

On Robin Shapiro (since a few of us are discussing her). I have mixed impressions. Reading only that page that was linked in this thread, she appears quite repulsive for me. She does look a bit androgynous, which I like in general because I am on the gender queer side internally... but when she writes about clients, most of the time refers to them as "she"... does she only work with females? If not, it sounds like an unpleasant bias to me. She also emphasizes the attachment/relationship between therapist-client a bit too much for my taste, but that is my personal bias and I have never really been interested in working on attachment and traumas much, which seems to be her specialty, so maybe just a different focus. I like some of her youtube talks much better.

Base on Robin Shapiro's classification I would add another type after the last, "Severe dissociation with awful attachment and horrible trauma, treatment failed." Some of those/us just never make it. Like there are good treatments for lots of cancer now, but some people still don't make it.

I wonder if she would be able to tolerate my meanness, then? It's not like I actually engage in mean behavior very often, except mostly toward myself. But still. . .totally reject-worthy by all the therapists I have seen.

Or -- maybe I (unconsciously, dissociated-part-of-me) manipulate that around to where I "provoke" them into rejecting me? Still -- seems like somebody who is aware of, and in touch with, their own meanness could turn that around somehow. Say something like "You seem upset? Can we talk a little about that?" or something -- instead of shaming glances and comments like "that's abusive". Uh, duh!, like that's news? -- that's why I dissociated all that away in order to be a "good girl" when I was growing up. And don't let that part "out" except in therapy? With a trauma and dissociation specialist for heaven's sake! And then she doesn't have the "emotional resources" to deal with me, after 6 years? Something seems very wrong with all of that somewhere -- yeah, blame it on me, mean, evil me. But then why not allow people like me to voluntarily quit living?

I was committed and consistent for YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS. Maybe too committed and consistent, too much stuck in "good girl" mode.

But therapy in an analogy with high school? I don't think so. (I don't really like to lump physical and mental health into the same category, but see the cancer analogy above. I think it's more apt than "graduation", or the opposite.)

Someone is simply stating their own outcome with therapy.

If we tolerate and or celebrate comments about negative outcomes, shouldnt we do the same for positive outcomes?

Also just try to learn from each others experiences. And help each other if we can.

I think there is a view sometimes expressed here that therapy works because of the client's virtuous qualities of hard work and commitment, when it does happen that therapy doesn't work because of those qualities but by a combination of factors, including a good therapist.

I consider a good reason why my current therapy works is because of my therapist--I got lucky. In the past--same me, same commitment--it did not work.

I really liked this response from stopdog. It is funny, but has a lot of truth as well, condensed into a simple analogy, I think.

So, again, I definitely place myself into the agnostic category about it - just like my view on spirituality and a lot of other things in life. Sometimes it manifests as holding several opinions simultaneously, other times fluctuating opinions over time.

One thing that I personally put a lot of emphasis on and value very highly is an ability to see things from different angles and to try to accept different views and experiences, many of which are not my own, or sometimes oppose mine directly. In a way, I think this tendency is part of why I am still so interested in reading/posting on this forum - to see and express many different view points about therapy. Some experiences and expressions are consistently positive, others more consistently negative, and many are everywhere in between and fluctuating, like my own analyses and shares. So I guess I can add to the description of "my type" the ambivalence

Yeahbbut isnt that like when someone always has terrible relationships? Eventually you say, who is the common denominator in all these relationships? (Like why do you always find gamblers or whatever.)

Btw, i am agreeing with you! But i think a big part of it is the client recognizing where they went wrong with previous ts and vice versa, and talking about that with current (best) t. That is what i feel helped me break those patterns.

I remember telling current t (whining, actually!): "i showed up (to previous ts)! What else did i have to do?" He never answered, but ive been figuring it out. Cant do the same thing and expect different results.

Thanks, ruh-roh. What I bolded above touches a "sore" spot, a sense of self and "narcissism" wounded and never "healed" from childhood, I'm guessing.

Which, I would maintain, based on my experience as well as research, is an aspect of something like a "cancer" for which there is currently no consistent, reliable, replicable "treatment".

I learned early on to be quiet if my "feelings" were hurt -- so I tried something different here. An "experiment" and hence an attempt to learn something experientially, risking that this was a "safe" place, which is what I believe that I have needed but have not found, either in "life" or in therapy. I thought that was part of the "given" of therapy but it has not been -- too many therapists with unhealed "wounded narcissism" of their own, I guess.

But, if that if an essential problem with therapy for people like me, and increasingly I believe it is, then it seems possible that a "fix" or "work-around" might be found by the industry in the future. I hope so, anyway.

Actually, we are not agreeing. I was the same in all my therapy relationships. What changed was the therapist who saw past what others got stuck on. It's the difference between bad to average therapy and good therapy. I think the later is very hard to find for some of us.

I myself am agnostic leaning heavily to atheist. I am highly skeptical and I've never seen it work myself. However who am I to deny it helps/ed someone else if they say it has.

I do think way too often the client gets blamed for it not working – therapists and other people claim that the problem is the client is not working hard enough or is not ready for therapy/ change or any number of other client bashing sorts of things. I think it's a category put forth by that one therapist as in highly motivated etc. does lean towards helping vilify and blame those for whom it hasn't helped.

I often detect what I would consider to be an air of self satisfaction in those who are in the "it works for me" category. Whether it was meant to be there or not, I don't know.

My blame goes to the therapists. I think they set the game up like that

Well I don't think I like to think of myself as a 'type' anymore, not even for fun. This is because I had a bad experience with what seemed like being 'put in a box' through therapy. It's interesting to read about it here though.

About Robin Shapiro's blog--ran into that ages ago, and remember kind of liking her. If I'm not mistaken, she proclaims she was borderline (please excuse my use of the label) and seemed very nonjudgmental. It seemed like her mind and heart were in the right place.