- Moderator
- #13
Sideways
Sponsor
Yup. I relate to that so much!
So with my current T:
That’s my ‘transference’ issues playing out. Essentially, taking the issues I have from other relationships, and superimposing that on my relationship with my T.
For a person without dissociated parts, it is very normal. But does bring a degree of complexity into the therapy space. One of the reasons you’d ideally work with a T who has some degree of professional qualifications behind them - they get taught how to identify and manage those ‘transference’ issues, whether they be warm feelings or completely hostile.
When you have someone with DID, there’s multiple different (often completely opposing) types of transference going on all at the same time. Happy days! One part loves the T, one part wants to sabotage the relationship, one part wants to cut the brake lines in T’s car…yeah!
This is normal. Communication is key. Communication among you and your parts, and also between you and your T (and if need be, your parts and your T).
Learning how to navigate that is part of recovery. The transference you’re experiencing with your T likely plays out in other important relationships. Difference is that with your T? They have training how to help you work through it, rather than just run for the hills.
So with my current T:
- I have a little that thinks he must be a parental figure
- A tween who thinks he’s the same as my abuser - someone to be revered and to take my clothes off for as a sign of respect
- A tween who hates him
- A late-teen who very frequently wants to scratch his eyes out
- A diplomat who thinks he’s a source of intellectual fodder
- An older part who holds him in complete contempt
That’s my ‘transference’ issues playing out. Essentially, taking the issues I have from other relationships, and superimposing that on my relationship with my T.
For a person without dissociated parts, it is very normal. But does bring a degree of complexity into the therapy space. One of the reasons you’d ideally work with a T who has some degree of professional qualifications behind them - they get taught how to identify and manage those ‘transference’ issues, whether they be warm feelings or completely hostile.
When you have someone with DID, there’s multiple different (often completely opposing) types of transference going on all at the same time. Happy days! One part loves the T, one part wants to sabotage the relationship, one part wants to cut the brake lines in T’s car…yeah!
This is normal. Communication is key. Communication among you and your parts, and also between you and your T (and if need be, your parts and your T).
Learning how to navigate that is part of recovery. The transference you’re experiencing with your T likely plays out in other important relationships. Difference is that with your T? They have training how to help you work through it, rather than just run for the hills.