The blank screen.....

I currently have two “therapists” ...... Neither of them have harmed me. And I don’t have to pay either of them.

One of them is frequently a “blank screen” - as in no response, which is fine with me. I have the ability to talk to a teddy bear .. they make the best listeners

Is your therapist or “person” often a “blank screen”

If so, how do you feel about that?

Nope. My therapist isn't like that and if she was, I'd leave. I need some interaction! Even if I'm not paying, it would make me feel too uncomfortable to sit opposite someone like that. I'd be tempted to make up outrageous rubbish just to get a response.....

If someone was always a blank screen I too would leave.. its “normal” to need some interaction

My T switched off. Sometimes she was the blank screen completely, and I wasn’t crazy about it. Therapy feels so socially unnatural as it is, so adding the emotionless robot feature to it just makes it weirder. But other times, her opinions would be bouncing off the walls. I’m pretty sure she had loose boundaries after reading some of the posts here, but I think I preferred that. It was the switching off that threw me because sometimes I expected her to respond and she wouldn’t. Sometimes she’d respond too much and come across as rather insensitive.

My T is warm and personal, she shares some of her own experiences and reacts to what I'm saying, mainly being empathetic and encouraging me.

I could never work with a blank screen. I need human interaction, that's what I'm paying her for.

80% blank screen. I wish he were more open - - I don't need to know his problems, but he sometimes won't answer the most basic questions about himself.

He's gotten better over time, however.

My T is very engaging. It's my preference and it works for what I need therapy for.

It depends on the content of the session. Sometimes I need support and he talks more. Sometimes it's more helpful to get no or little interaction back (apart from being asked to elaborate or something like that), since I can lead more that way. It helps me explore what I think and feel about a certain topic.

I can relate to this ... grrrrrrrrrrrrr

I would say that if a T continues to be a "blank slate" to a client who doesn´t respond well to that, he or she should update her knowledge within therapy. The blank slate mode was standard a long while ago and today a lot of studies show interaction and different kinds of response to a client is needed to succeed.


I met with my new nurse who seems to be a bit like a blank slate as she seems to think the client wants to just ramble about. I have already told her how I feel about it and she refrained from the blank slate concept at least when it comes to asking her some general, not private, questions. She then answered to them. But still, I won´t continue with her if she keeps doing the blank slate and "no emotions involved".

and so do critters of the furry and feathered kind