Posted by Dinah on February 13, 2010, at 11:16:36
In reply to Re: My therapist says I'm neurotic, posted by rnny on February 12, 2010, at 22:12:39
Your sleep doctor was definitely rude. I think I'd have left crying if someone did that to me. My sleep doctor mentions that I should lose weight (and exercise more), but he never makes fun. I think your doctor is in the wrong business. He's bound to run into overweight people.
If I hadn't been aware of what he meant by neurotic (non-psychotic, no thought disorder), I'd have likely been upset. I think he takes for granted that I'm familiar with psych terms. Since that one *is* out of date, it might be possible that I would have misunderstood. But if I did, I'd have asked him why he said that, and what he meant. If you have a trusting relationship with someone and they say something that hurts you, don't you generally give them the benefit of the doubt and ask what they meant? It would be as if your old therapist, who you trusted, said it - rather than it being like your new therapist saying it. You have no basis of trust with your new therapist.
I'm not sure I'm all that good at living up to labels either. My therapist once told me that he thought I was strong enough to do something, and as it turns out he was wrong. The thing that bothered me was that I thought I'd disappoint him because his expectations of me were higher.
Once I understood the context, I wasn't bothered by his statement, although I did think it was amusing. But if I hadn't understood it, I'd have more likely been upset that he thought I was "merely" neurotic. I might have asked whether it was right of me to see him so often if I'm just neurotic. But in context, since I was speaking of being sane, and neurotic can mean "not thought disordered", i.e. "sane", I could hardly be angry with him for agreeing.
I've got no problem with politely standing up for myself when someone means offense. And sometimes I admit that I feel hurt by what someone said even when they doesn't mean any offense. But I don't see any benefit to me to reacting with anger to someone who meant no offense.
poster:Dinah
thread:936713
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20100128/msgs/936934.html