Do you actually trust your therapist?

[Stephernovas]

I really like my therapist. I think she's a great person, and if I hadn't met her in the context I did, I'd imagine we'd likely be friends to some degree. I've been seeing her for a year now, and as hard as I try, my trust issues are so severe that I can't bring myself to tell her much. Progress has been slow on treatment, as her main focus (I believe) has largely been on simply getting me to trust her. So I wonder, do most people here trust their therapist to have those open and honest conversations with them? Or do you hold it all back and find yourself constantly testing the waters?

 

[somerandomguy]

I trust my therapist completely and unreservedly.

It took me about a year and a half to get to that point, and then another six months to feel comfortable enough to really open up entirely.

 

[FauxLiz]

I trust the therapist that I am currently with prior to my impending move. I have been with him for four years and it took nearly 3 before the trust solidified. Trust is an issue most of us I believe struggle with and it can take a lot of time and work to get there.

 

[Friday]

do most people here trust their therapist to have those open and honest conversations with them? Or do you hold it all back and find yourself constantly testing the waters?

Neither.

I don’t have to trust someone to be open and honest with them.

 

[EveHarrington]

I don’t trust anyone.

On a side note, people amuse me with their assumption that my openness and honesty means that I trust them or that they’re something significant to me. I’m very open, and very honest to the point where people mention that they appreciate this trait in me. It has no correlation to trust or intimacy in my world.

So no, I don’t trust my therapist. I don’t hold anything back, but I don’t trust her, either.

 

[Falling Petals]

I have been seeing my therapist for a year now. I keep waiting for her to turn on me. Hasn’t happened yet.

Just this week I told her that I do trust her, but I also don’t. I guess there are different levels. My biggest challenge is that I fear that if she sees me the way that I see myself, she will leave.

One time, she told me that it makes sense that my wounded parts don’t trust her or God or anyone. She said that they shouldn’t have to, considering what they went through.

I do trust that she is caring, a good person, wants to help. I can be open and honest about some things, but not everything. She told me that I can tell her things when I am ready and that it is never a requirement.

 

[Still Standing]

I'm on the other side of the spectrum. I need to trust my therapist or I will not tell him anything.

 

[ILoveLife]

I trust that she does her job well.
Any trust that I have about her being a good person or not doesn't really matter in the context of my therapeutic process. People are not generally black and white, and my therapist has flaws just like any other person.
I'm not there to be her friend, I'm her client.

 

[blackemerald1]

I need to trust my therapist or I will not tell him anything.

I'm like this^^ too.

I trust that she does her job well.

And this..^^^

I'm not there to be her friend, I'm her client.

And also this ^^^

I am aware that my psydoc could hurt me badly with information he has. I trust him to not do so.

 

[shatter eyes]

I trust mine but in the early stages i did not. He earned it.

 

[Mach123]

Yes, earn it. I did everything to her. She knew why. When I couldn't scare her with my "faces" I knew i trusted her. I'm not sleeping with her, so she can only do me superficial damage. I'm intimate with her though, so it's dangerous? Is it I trust you will sleep with me or you won't? I don't know the difference. She's a woman. She knows all about me.

 

[desiderata310]

It took three years for me to come to a place where I trusted my therapist. He knows that too. He earned it the hard way. There have been times along the way that he has just really pushed by f*cking up and it almost cost him that trust and I guess cost me my therapist but we were able to talk our way through it. somehow.

At this point he knows where most of the 'bodies' are buried so to speak. That is to say that he knows at least the sketchiest outlines of what happened and a lot of what outright happened and we've been slowly chipping away at all of that.
There are still things I don't trust him with. almost 5 years in.
Trust is earned. Never given.