Posted by Penny on October 20, 2003, at 9:39:12
In reply to Re: frustrating therapy session » Penny, posted by Dinah on October 17, 2003, at 11:05:34
And told him that my mood had been dropping, and he wants me to go back on Lamictal. Which I stopped Friday before last. And I don't want to, b/c I don't think it will help. I've been on soooo many meds now, and I just haven't found any that have a lasting positive effect. And I trust him, but he's not a miracle worker (unfortunately). But anyway...
So this doesn't get re-routed - my pdoc and I talked a couple of weeks ago about transference and his comment to me was that he tries to be open about himself and his life so as to seem as much like a 'real person' as possible, to help prevent transference. Not that he doesn't see the place for it - he used to offer psychotherapy as well and in those situations he encouraged it - but now he would rather that his patients not project other feelings onto him, though he said when it does happen, he deals with it openly.
And, yet, I still see him as a father figure in a major way. He's pretty much the opposite of my dad - he's a little older than my dad (only 3 years), more intelligent (my dad only *thinks* he knows everything...), successful, driven, caring, compassionate, patient, kind, etc. etc. etc. NO - he's not perfect. In fact, I was just thinking on Friday and this weekend how I bet he's a demanding father to his children (He has 5 and the oldest one is about 6 years younger than I am). I say that b/c when we talk about my future plans - taking the GRE, graduate school, etc., he's every encouraging but it occurs to me that *I* don't want to disappoint him. I mean, I know, for example, that his oldest isn't in 'traditional' college, which I think is interesting considering he, his father, and both his brothers are physicians. So his oldest is sort of bucking the trend. And he seems proud of her - but I have a feeling that, while he is supportive of what she is choosing to do with her life, he still expects her to be the best at whatever she chooses to do. And I see him take a fatherly stance with me also - he even offered to read my essay for grad school (he knows I want to be a therapist).
On one hand, it's nice to know that he sees my potential and that he thinks of me as intelligent and able to succeed - on the other hand, sometimes I'm glad he's not my dad! His legacy would be a hard one to live up to...
P
poster:Penny
thread:269640
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20031011/msgs/271055.html