Every now and then, Dr. Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) from HBO's series, "In Treatment" comes out with a good line, full of depth, and accurate to the therapy process. In one of the episodes I saw this week, Dr. Weston says, "Is it easier to be angry with me than to look at your own pain?" His client was throwing all kinds of angry jabs at him when clearly she was angry, upset, and miserable about her own … [Read more...]
10 Qualities Therapists Recognize in Good Clients, part 2
Hello, I hope this day finds you doing well. The first part of this article certainly caused a little stir, and maybe raised a few eyebrows along the way. Please know, my intention in posting these blogs is not to offend anyone. If you have any questions or concerns about anything I've posted, please comment and let me know what you're thinking! And here's a big Thank You! to the folks who did comment to the … [Read more...]
Blocking Therapy vs. Therapeutic Mismatch
Let's start with Castorgirl's comment to the article "Therapy for Trauma Survivors": Hi Kathy, An interesting post. It raises many issues that have been a struggle over the last three years of therapy… The question whenever things don’t seem to be going well in therapy always seems to come back to - “Is this our fault?” Are we sabotaging our own recovery, misinterpreting what has been said or … [Read more...]
Therapy for Dissociative Trauma Survivors
What is therapy? What is a therapist? What is the therapy process? And how can you tell if they’re any good? What is therapy? In my experience, therapy is about speaking the unspeakable. It’s the telling of things that you haven’t had the safety or the opportunity to tell before. It’s expressing your deepest feelings without have to edit or omit or pretend for the sake of someone … [Read more...]