[Glowworm80]

My therapist said something to me today that made me angry. I struggle to identify and show my anger and it's one of the things I am working on. I told him I was angry about after he said what she said which is progress. He didn't apologise but acknowledged it was the wrong of him to say it. What bothers me most is that it is not the first time he has said what he said! It is quite a surprising thing what he said and if someone else said it to me would also be as anger-inducing. We talked about it for a few minutes but then moved on as the session was near the end. As time has passed I have become even angrier and can't seem to forget about it. I mean saying it once is a slip of the tongue. Saying it twice indicates it's a belief of his. It also seems out of line with things he would normally say. Perhaps I am off base with this but It makes me question whether he said what he said on purpose in order to get a reaction. Is this possible or am I reaching here? I mean either way it doesn't matter now as it made me angry so whether on purpose or not perhaps there is a positive side to it but I just want to know is therapists might do these things. Do they ever try to elicit anger in clients who struggle to express it? I plan to bring it up again next session.

[satsuma]

I personally think it would be wrong for a therapist to deliberately try to make a client angry. I know there is this famous 'Gloria' film on YouTube where the Gestalt therapist is deliberately rude and then explains that he is trying to make her angry. I personally think that's wrong and also inexcusable, and I have the impression that therapists nowadays wouldn't try to be deliberately horrible or make the client angry on purpose. Or at the very least, they know they are not supposed to behave that way and they don't try to say that it is therapeutic!
That's what I think, but of course I'm not a therapist...
I think in your position I would plan to use my next session talking about this issue. It seems like it is something important to you, and I imagine if you try to let it go it might fester and be disruptive for your therapy. I think if you bring by it up you will have more of an idea about where T stands with this and whether T can appreciate how important it is for you, once you have explained.

[SlumberKitty]

I don't think most therapists would say something deliberately to make a client angry but I am only basing that with my experience with therapists which have mostly been positive except for T3. I think she might have said provoking things but not to make me angry just to be a brat. I think it will be good to discuss further in therapy so that you can get more clarity on the issue. ((hugs)) Kit