Should Your Therapist Have Certain Things In Common With You?

[Abstract]

That is a good point to add. Apparently it can be extra hard for a therapist to keep their own stuff out of the therapy room and stop counter transference if some aspect of the clients situation is very close to them in some way.

 

[Lucycat]

I think it essential that you have things in common with your therapist:

Trust in each other.
Commitment to recovery
Honesty and openness
Listening
Learning together
Sharing the journey
Ability to discuss 'complications' or misunderstandings.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Yes, @Abstract, you are right. I know others didn't know of my issue as I wasn't even fully aware of it. However it did hurt to have people repeatedly point to me as the problem as I internalized this and believed that I was simply a difficult client when that wasn't the case. It wasn't just within the context of a single thread. Others have pulled info from past threads (into the then current thread) as proof that the problem is me, to support their stance that it's my fault.

Duh duh duh. I just realized that I've had my male psychiatrist for almost 5 years now. This is longer than any other mental health professional in my past. I don't think it's just a coincidence that he's male.