What a fascinating topic. Thank you for putting me inside the head of a therapist for a few moments!
As a person who has experienced different therapists, it is also hard to figure out the best therapist for oneself. Because we don't know the person, we are restricted to personal recommendations and/or web searches for areas of expertise. That means that often the first real "judgment" we make about our therapist is a visual one, which happens that first moment when we shake her or his hand and introduce ourselves (and OUR story)!
As a journalist for more than 20 years, I am like you in a way -- I always want to know a person's story. It seems that by mentally putting little pushpins on an imaginary bulletin board: a person is X years old, born here, lived there, has/does not have children, loves/does not love dogs, has visited these places, etc, that we feel we are learning about them, mentally cataloguing them in a way that we understand. But you're right, to be in a relationship with a person and not know their own story means we must rely only on what they know and what they say -- the wisdom and insight -- without knowing how it got there.
That's a really interesting thing to think about. Thank you.
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Heather,
What a fascinating topic. Thank you for putting me inside the head of a therapist for a few moments!
As a person who has experienced different therapists, it is also hard to figure out the best therapist for oneself. Because we don't know the person, we are restricted to personal recommendations and/or web searches for areas of expertise. That means that often the first real "judgment" we make about our therapist is a visual one, which happens that first moment when we shake her or his hand and introduce ourselves (and OUR story)!
As a journalist for more than 20 years, I am like you in a way -- I always want to know a person's story. It seems that by mentally putting little pushpins on an imaginary bulletin board: a person is X years old, born here, lived there, has/does not have children, loves/does not love dogs, has visited these places, etc, that we feel we are learning about them, mentally cataloguing them in a way that we understand. But you're right, to be in a relationship with a person and not know their own story means we must rely only on what they know and what they say -- the wisdom and insight -- without knowing how it got there.
That's a really interesting thing to think about. Thank you.
November 17, 2009 - 9:59amThis Comment
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