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Omg so much this. I need to know my therapist is a human being besides a therapist. I have a very hard time putting together a therapeutic alliance with someone who is "just" a therapist.sharing a little about her crazy family stories
Omg so much this. I need to know my therapist is a human being besides a therapist. I have a very hard time putting together a therapeutic alliance with someone who is "just" a therapist.
My current therapist and I swap stories about our kids a lot. In the past I had a lot of trouble feeling like an adequate parent, and hearing what she's going through (our kids are roughly the same age) is a huge help to me.
@RK176
The other thing that my therapist does well without making therapy about her, is sharing a little about her crazy family stories and relating things as normal bc so many things feel not normal. And she quickly makes me feel at ease when something more crazy comes up and lets me know that based on what happened my feelings and responses are totally normal for what happened. She doesn't have the same trauma history, but she acknowledges we all have trauma. Its part of life. I don't know if your history has trauma involved, but I don't think its bad to let your patients know that we all struggle with things and it is perfectly normal. Asking for help isn't a bad thing. The shame I carried for years and didn't ask for help made it a much longer journey than it probably needed to be.
There's a lot of good stuff out on the web about therapist self-disclosure. Done properly, it can be an amazingly healing tool. I especially liked this article: Counselor self-disclosure: Encouragement or impediment to client growth? - Counseling Todayhave always been a little reluctant to share my personal life as I fear it will take away from the clients experience
There's a lot of good stuff out on the web about therapist self-disclosure. Done properly, it can be an amazingly healing tool. I especially liked this article: Counselor self-disclosure: Encouragement or impediment to client growth? - Counseling Today
I think that if it's not something you feel comfortable doing, you just shouldn't do it. It's OK to know your weaknesses and play to your strengths. Not everyone is going to need a therapist who self-discloses a lot. It's my preference, but I've worked with therapists who never self-disclosed and still got something out of my work with them.During my masters, I realised this was something I found most challenging so its a working progress!
I think that if it's not something you feel comfortable doing, you just shouldn't do it. It's OK to know your weaknesses and play to your strengths. Not everyone is going to need a therapist who self-discloses a lot. It's my preference, but I've worked with therapists who never self-disclosed and still got something out of my work with them.