Therapy description

I'm reading this book at the moment (My thirteenth winter, by samantha abeel) and i found this passage where she describes her therapy sessions and i just laughed and laughed and couldn't stop because it is so awkwardly familiar! So i just wanted to share it because i'm sure there are other people who feel this way too

I look forward to coming to these counselling sessions every week because i know i need help, because i need answers, and i know i can't do it alone anymore. However, every time she opens her door and discreetly speaks my name to signal she's ready for me, i always feel a little sorry i came.

It is the initial silence that is the most unbearable, the awkward silence as i walk toward her and through the entryway into her office, the forced small talk that i always start in an attempt to relieve the uncomfortable silence-the small talk that she knows is a sign i can't handle the silence, a sign to me that i can't.

Exhausting all my observations on the weather with little help from her, i take my usual seat, looking out the window. I feel her eyes gaze at me unabashedly, notepad in front of her, pen poised.

Hi,

I know that this thread has gone unanswered for some time now. Therefore, I have decided to reply to it. I just want to asy one thing: 'forced' smalltalk can easily become 'habitual' smalltalk, with practice and persistence!

Kevin

When I go to my psychiatrist's office she always asks me "how are you" at the start, and I don't know whether it's a greeting or an actual session question. To the first I would reply "Fine, how are you?"; to the second "Horrible. The devil has extended his grip on me". Quite a contrast!

Philo, I was never really sure about that either, and I still am not now. Sometimes, I do not reply to the question but then I wonder if I should have. Other times, I might reply with: "I'm grand... ...and how are you?". It seems utterly pointless. I mean, I'm hardly going to answer with "I'm feeling depressed actually and have been thinking about killing myself". That wouldn't work really, but they DID ask...

If anyone knows where to find some recordings of real life therapy sessions, hook me up.

Chucky wrote: I mean, I'm hardly going to answer with "I'm feeling depressed actually and have been thinking about killing myself". That wouldn't work really, but they DID ask...

Your supposed to do that, not make small talk with your therapist.

Actually I think you should be completely honest with your therapist... keeping things back wont help out in the long run. I think it's important for the therapist to know exactly how bad or good you feel so she can treat you better....

sublyp wrote:

Chucky wrote: I mean, I'm hardly going to answer with "I'm feeling depressed actually and have been thinking about killing myself". That wouldn't work really, but they DID ask...

Your supposed to do that, not make small talk with your therapist.

We are specifically referring to an introduction here. Like, when you walk into the room first and the therapist asks how you are. Once you sit down and get down to 'business', that's when you start outpouring your heart and mind to him/her.

than i think the answer is just "who cares"

Who cares about what? Also, why are you looking to pick holes in my advice lately? Have I done anything overtly wrong in your eyes?

Take care,
Kevin