[stopdog]

Do the therapist's pat comments reassure you or piss you off? Do you react neutrally to them?

[mostlylurking]

By "pat" do you mean platitudes and cliches? Or technical language like transference, therapeutic alliance, etc?

Depends what they are really. Sometimes he says stuff that really sticks with me. Other times he attempts to reassure me and it pisses me off.

[LostOnTheTrail]

I like them, and hear them in my head on occasion.

[Salmon77]

This really depends on my mood and the situation. Normally such comments don't bother me as long as they are appropriate. If I'm feeling bad for other reasons they can set me off.

[growlycat]

At first they piss me off then I realize he actually uses this stuff on himself. At least he is being authentic

[Anne2.0]

I haven't noticed any pat comments by my therapist. He is a great listener and he responds to what I'm saying in what ever moment we are in. He doesn't give advice and isn't interested in telling me what to do. Only once in awhile does he piss me off and he's open and nondefensive to hearing about it. I wouldn't pay a T to say pat things to me or otherwise piss me off. That's available for free in many other places and in windows of time that are more convenient for my schedule.

[stopdog]

I was referring to the sorts of catch phrases people gave on the other thread. I think of them as the therapist's pat phrases then

[AllHeart]

My t has one she uses around her unsolicited advice. I actually appreciate her unsolicited advice when she gives it so I guess I find it reassuring. It would probably piss me off tho if she used it every session.

[WarmFuzzySocks]

Depends on whether it matches or not. Or on the day or the phases of the moon, who knows?

Sometimes it's the exactly right thing to say, it suits the moment, and I like it and hear it later.
Sometimes it doesn't really match what I thought I was saying, but it doesn't bother me. I usually see that as a prompt to clarify.
Sometimes it feels like a space-filler or an auto-response, and it ticks me off. Well, it's mildly irritating. I don't usually get too worked up about that stuff.

[Argonautomobile]

Sometimes. But then, sometimes the particular blue of the sky pisses me off, too.

Mostly I think it's nice that he tried.

[annielovesbacon]

I put both reassuring and piss me off. Depends on my mood.

[velcro003]

I put "T's phrases are nonsensical, but I ignore them." My T rarely uses therapist-y phrases, and when she does, I roll my eyes at her to let her know that I caught on and I am annoyed.

In my experience, it gets better....
It's a stage...

For one, his past experience involves others, not me...
and two...... no one wants to be told it's a stage when they are in pain.