Nice to hear from you. I too appreciate your honesty and how you felt when you double booked. I don’t know if you noticed my post about my T doing that to me not once, but twice! Both times that is how she came to realize it; walking into the waiting room and seeing 2 of her clients sitting there as she froze in time muttering a certain expletive or two.
The first time I pushed it under the rug more or less and she apologized profusely-which I felt worse for her than I did for myself. The second time I was not so understanding and we spent the whole session on it. But we did work it out. Even horrifying events and misunderstandings in our relationship with our T can be worked out and we (clients) really need to experience that. I think if we don’t get to see their humanness we might forget that they are not perfect and therefore miss opportunities to learn how to work things out not only through them but with them. I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t want a perfect therapist. I enjoy some of her imperfections. I like the way she rambles on sometimes extrapolating details. I grin when she gets all wide eyed and over-reacts to things I say. I love her sarcasm at the same time that it drives me crazy.
But I relate to that. I see ways that she is a lot like me and then I see this wonderful role model to look up to and I am very proud to know her the way that I do. If I realized that my T was still horrified over double booking me not once, but twice mind you, (far be it from me to keep bringing that up) I would want for her to let it go. It gave me opportunity to learn something about myself and to work something out with her, which in turn, strengthened my bond with her. Thanks for your insight from the other side of the consultation room.
Hope all goes well in L.A. Remember you poster children back here if you need any convincing arguments on why therapy is a good idea. (Otherwise there’d be a lot more loose nuts running on the streets.) Which reminds me of a comment from an acquaintance some time ago who said “I really see a difference in you, in the way that you carry yourself. You have a more positive attitude. What are you doing?”
My reply, “I’ve had a few screws tightened.”
Thanks again for developing this community for us. To my knowledge there’s nothing else like it out there. I wish some therapists would drop by from time to time: Even if just to read if they didn’t want to post.
JM