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Legendary Wise Elder
Mountaindewed
NoahsArk30
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#1
What do you do? Today we were talking about covid for 45 minutes until she realized I was talking about the new variant. She had no idea there was a new variant and was getting very upset and was asking me a lot of questions and then went into this angry rant for 5 minutes. I just let her go on because when I get into rants in therapy therapists just let me go on for as long as I need to. She stated she was mad that it was happening again. By the time she was done the session was up and she had calmed herself but she still had an annoyed tone. I was honestly a bit entertained since I've never seen a therapist go off like that before even the really bad ones I've had. But I do know it was pretty inapropriate behavior too and probably shouldnt have happend.
Should I bring this up in our next session? I dont know what to expect from her I feel like I am being my own support system at this point and it doesnt really bother me. Especially now that I am over the therapist I had before I moved. But I don't know. Would you bring this up? And how? __________________ Ridin' with Biden |
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LonesomeTonight
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#2
I think my biggest concern would be that apparently my therapist had been living in a cave since Friday morning. I mean, if she traveled for Thanksgiving, I could understand her maybe not paying attention to any news until her return. But it being Wednesday now--I'd like to think she'd have *some* awareness of one of the things that's currently topping the headlines, even if she didn't know the latest details.
The rant would bother me, too. I guess my T has had some sort of mini-rants about past political (he knows we share similar views) and Covid stuff, but they were maybe a minute or two and tied closely into something I was ranting about. So more like commiserating. This sounded like your T was having her own meltdown in processing the information and put you in an awkward situation (plus taking away time for you to talk about your own stuff). And with her asking you questions about it--it sounds like she was using her as her news source. I feel like I'd say something, though not sure exactly what. Ideally, she'd start next session by apologizing, but she also may not have realized how long she went on or how it might have felt to a client. You could say something like, "At the end of last session, you seemed to get really upset about Covid, and I wasn't sure how to handle it." or "and it took over the rest of the session." Or something like that? |
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ChickenNoodleSoup
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#3
As LT said, I'd be most weirded out by the fact my T wouldn't know there's a new variant, given that it's all over the news. I think Ts should follow the news at least a bit, since they can often be very anxiety inducing.
I'd keep in mind that Ts are only humans. There have been times where - for a brief moment, a few minutes maybe - something was more about my T than about me. One time he had to have surgery, another time during the lockdown he had issues with his knees, I think there were one or two more such things. By about him I mean it wasn't that connected to my own situation, he wasn't sharing similar experiences or something like that, but purely "I have issue X". He wasn't emotional during those moments though, and I can see why you'd have to say something about a surgery if you might be out for a week... A fact to keep in mind that makes Covid a bit different is that this is very much a shared experience. Even if your T shares a trauma that you experienced, most of the time it wasn't the exact same thing. Maybe both of you were hit by your parents, but there are differences all over the place. That combined with the fact that usually Ts will have worked through at least part of their own issues when starting to practice, that means they can more easily distance themselves. However, if somebody pops up with new information about covid, that is a bit different, it will affect both of your lives directly, at this very moment. That can lead to some emotions. I don't think it's in general bad for a T to show those emotions, it can model how you can react to a situation. My T says sometimes that he's uncertain on how it's going to go, shares his opinions on people who don't get vaccinated (knowing my own opinion) and so on. I assume if I'd catch him with an important new fact that just came out, he might react a bit emotionally as well. So, I don't think you can completely compare this event to say her suddenly coming in and talking about her divorce for a whole session. It's probably more of a slip up, which will happen to every therapist from time to time. The thing I'd certainly do is keep my eyes open for things like this happening again, especially if it's about other stuff. Other than that, my rule of thumb is always the same. If I'm still thinking about it when my next session comes around, I bring it up. And as for the how, I always say something along the lines of "you did or said X last session" and that it bothered me/wasn't the best thing to do/was out of line, whatever fits the situation best. If I'm not thinking about it anymore, it's a mistake that has happened, I can see past that. If it's a repeated thing, that'd be much different. Edit: I'd also like to add that while therapy is mostly about you, sometimes a bit of small talk with questions back and forth are normal and okay as well. My T has asked me before about things about my dog (he doesn't have much experience with them) or about for example this forum. And those certainly weren't discussions where I took a whole lot from them, but for me it's not only a nice way to connect sometimes, but also to exchange information that I feel is important for my T. That's not the same as taking up the whole session or ranting of course, just a side note that in general asking a few things about a new variant you've never heard about would not be an issue for me in general. |
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#4
It wouldn't really bother me. I stay away from most covid news - I think most of it is repetitive or speculation. I don't need to stress myself out about something that I have no control over whatsoever. The rant would only bother me because I am not paying one of them to listen to them rant.
__________________ Please NO @ Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. Oscar Wilde Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. |
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#5
Is this the same therapist who made a big deal about not wanting to wear masks and wouldn't tell you if she was vaccinated?
... Either way, that sounds really unprofessional. She doesn't get paid to ramble about current events. |
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Legendary Wise Elder
Mountaindewed
NoahsArk30
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#6
No this is another one. That is why at this point after 3 therapists since moving in May, I think I'm just going to have to be my own support system. I mean I'll still see her but I'm not counting on her to help me much.
I do actually feel better after taking care of some medical issues that were causing mental health issues. So I am not quite dependent on therapists the way I was these last 2 years. To be honest I'm more weirded out that she ate her turkey basically raw because it didnt cook all the way. But food is a senstive subject in general for me and undercooked food bothers me. __________________ Ridin' with Biden Last edited by Mountaindewed; Dec 02, 2021 at 12:25 PM.. |
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#7
Quote:
Last edited by Bill3; Dec 03, 2021 at 01:44 AM.. |
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Legendary Wise Elder
Mountaindewed
NoahsArk30
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#8
We were talking about my anxiety surronding it. About how to return back to work and stuff and other things that made me anxioius about regarding covid.
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#9
Quote:
I've spent quite a bit of my therapy time since the pandemic started talking about Covid. It's had a huge effect on my everyday life and mental state. So this makes complete sense to me that you'd spend a full session talking about it after a new variant was discovered. |
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Grand Poohbah
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#10
Wait, what do you mean she ate her turkey raw? Ewww. In front of you? Holy salmonella Batman.
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Legendary Wise Elder
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NoahsArk30
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#11
No not in front of me. But I did have to hold myself back from asking "so you didn't get salmonella from eating it raw?" She is out of the office and is doing virtual sessions this week, so who knows.
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Legendary Wise Elder
Mountaindewed
NoahsArk30
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#12
She was fine today. She did seem kinda sad about something and she wasnt her usually bubbly self but she had to suddenly switch to remote this week I don't know what was up. But there were no freak outs or jokes or unproffesionlism going on. Although I was pretty down myself so I'm glad we were both reading the room today.
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