Why would...

Why would splitting occur if consulting two therapists at the same time, or even by posting online while consulting a therapist? The latter seems absurd to me. What does this (splitting) even mean.. how would the therapist know if splitting would occur?

Maybe the real reason, or part of it, might be the therapist’s ego if they disapprove of this or try to mandate against it.

By splitting, they could mean that you see one "person" as "good" and the other is "bad". So if the forums support something for you and T doesn't, you might see T as "bad".

Thanks, yes I think this might have been what the T meant. I think they were making an assumption about me. And I didn’t appreciate their attempts to control me

The family of origin were very controlling, for their egos and not for my good

I’m trying to understand all this crap in my head if I could .... remove all the pain and debris from my head I would.

The best sessions I ever had with Madame T were when I was doing group therapy with a T who was even worse. So yes, splitting can happen.

I know it's a little off topic but - aha aha aha - you just made me realize a big something!! my parents were very controlling as well - to the point that I literally stayed emotionally 15 years old (after my grandma died when I was 15. she was the only one helping in my emotional development). Finally finally I get into therapy with a t that actually helped me a ton - and I matured emotionally at long last. But!! The weirdness of my session a couple days ago made me feel very pushed and like she was trying to control me and I did not like it one bit. This is probably why. Thank you.

I have two therapists, and I post on here. At first I didn't tell either of them about the other. I was worried that the first therapist would be upset that I got the second therapist. I did end up telling her and she was pretty supportive. She said that she thought that having multiple support systems was better than having just one person to get overly dependent on.

I tried really hard not to talk about one therapist to the other therapist, but I ended up doing it when I was mad at the second therapist. I don't know that I saw him as all bad, but I was pretty mad at him. The first therapist empathized with me, but then kind of supported him in a way. So I got mad at her too. But I worked it out with both of them.

Since a lot of my problems have to do with being able to handle conflict and anger better, I actually find it way more useful to have two of them than just one. It gives me twice as much practice at dealing with authority figures.

As far as "splitting" and these forums go...almost always when I see a thread about someone having a conflict with their therapist, I see people advising the OP to talk directly to the therapist about it...which is of course the most healthy thing to do. However, that can be really hard. Sometimes you just need the support or reassurance that yes this is a real issue and that you have a right to talk about it with your therapist...that you aren't overreacting or being crazy.

I guess I think that is healthy and normal...not splitting.