Friday, January 28, 2005

One kind of odd phenomenon in therapy is that all one's clients on a particular day may be doing the same thing. Maybe they're all having the same issue that they're "stuck" on, or they're all late that day, or tired, or they're all experiencing hopefulness about the future, etc. etc.

Last week all my clients were having big emotional breakthroughs--I would say that three out of five cried during their sessions. And what happens after a big emotional breakthrough? You retreat for a while to digest it or lick your wounds, however you want to view it. So this week all my clients were much less emotionally forthcoming.

I guess some of this can be attributed to external factors, like elections or weather or the beginning of the semester. But as a therapist, I recognize that my psychological state affects what happens with my clients. If I am in tune with myself and feeling grounded, then things go much better. I think last week I was really in a state where I had the strength to challenge and support my clients to really look at some difficult things face-to-face, as opposed to continuing to report them to me in an intellectual fashion.

One quote (from someone I can't remember) is that "in order to be a good therapist, one must be well-fed and well-loved." I would add to that "...with a good night's sleep."

2 comments:

brainhell said...

How often do your clients fall in love with you? Or is that just textbook standard?

liz said...

Well, given that most people who are willing to go put their mental guts on display to a stranger are women, and that most women are hetero, the question comes up a lot less often than TV might have one think.