angelique (NYC, USA)

something may not be fully congruent in your client, or perhaps in your therapist.

Sorry, but I too am a therapist, and RARELY have I closed an eye. If I am feeling like I am slipping away, I comment or ask what is going on. We all know about countertransference - you don't even mention it. And need I mention that therapists are people with issues of their own which sometimes intrude on treatment?

Angelica

Whoa....there Angelica, that's quite a strong reaction...I wonder what's up?

If you notice, the article proposes a hypothesis...a possibility. And if look in the comments below the article you'll see I reference the countertransference...I just don't label it as such.

You see, the nervous system is quite predictable. What I have found is that if you understand how it operates, then psychological terms can sometimes diffuse more than they help. Why let fancy words interfere with one's understanding of a concept when merely describing what's going on suffices?

Maybe you were confused when I referenced the nervous system. You see, if a therapist is easily pulled into a dissociative pull it's implied that it's going to require therapy or tons of yoga (or something similar) to change this tendency - not more training. That's really the point.

And it's a theme throughout the site that therapists need to do their own work. I'm not skirting that issue at all. Nonetheless, I must admit that I have a completely different conception of what might entail working on "issues" than I imagine you do.

You see, I'm not blaming anyone here. Dissociation is a common among many people, clients and therapists.

I also admit to being pulled into the dissociative pull of my clients. I can't imagine giving up my work as a therapist for several years until my nervous system has sufficient resiliency to avoid the dissociative pull from every client that walks in my door. I don't think that's necessary.

Shrinklady

Sunita

This isn't the client's problem! It is up to the therapist to be trained in what they are doing. It's up to the therapist to have coping skills to deal with the side effects of their profession. Otherwise DON'T take on dissociative clients.

I'm sick of incompetent therapists who sit around and nod and charge money. This hasn't gotten to the "surface of the phenomemon" as the previous poster has suggested. This is just another excuse to mask the fact that most therapists don't know much about what they're doing and the majority of the profession is filled with complete idiots.

Sorry for the strong opinion but I've seen over 15 therapists over last 10 years - and they ALL had no idea what I was going thru.

Sunita

Hello Sunita, thanks for your message and your frankness. I'm sorry you've had such bad experiences with therapists. Many people don't realize how hard it is to find a good therapist. They're not all alike that's for sure. One of my intentions in creating this site was to help folks distinguish between therapy that's good and, not so good.

I can certainly resonate with you that therapists need to be more active with their clients. Therapy is a collaborative effort and requires two fully engaged participants.

However, I also wonder if you might be speaking of DID (i.e. Dissociative Identity Disorder)? I can certainly believe that there are many therapists who are not familiar with DID. There certainly needs to be more therapists trained in this area.

The article I wrote was referring to the every day phenomenon of dissociation that 80% of the population suffers from at one time or another. A client who suffers from DID does not necessarily present with dissociation in the form I was speaking about.

I'm pretty sure a therapist's "sleepy" reaction to dissocation has nothing to do with their training. (This discussion is aside from the obvious lack of sleep on the therapist's part). No amount of professional training could stop someone from being pulled into a strong dissociative pull. The therapist's somatic reaction has to do with how regulated the therapist's nervous system is i.e. how resilient it is. And resiliency is a characteristic that relates to the therapist's history.

I could use myself as an example. I've had training up the wazoo and I still get caught off guard with the dissociative pull of my clients. Most clients that I see are dissociative to some degree. When I notice it in myself - a sorta starry-eyed moment - it has often proved very useful as a point of discussion.

It's probably true that if my nervous system was better regulated, I might not be impacted so much. That said, I'm certainly much better today than I was even five years ago. It was my own personal therapy that helped regulate my nervous system - none of my professional training could help with that.

Shrinklady

Rachel

Totally true! Speaking as a psychotherapist, I can say that I've learned to recognize my sleepy feelings in session as an indicator that something's not fully congruent in my client.

Trust me, nothing keeps me awake and energized MORE than a therapeutic session. I love what I do, so it's so incredible when my client is talking and I feel waves of tiredness coming on. Thanks for getting under the surface of this phenomenon, Suzanne!

Rachel