My Psychic Therapist and Other Myths

By Dr. Suzanne LaCombe
Reviewed by: Dr. Tracy Halpen

"Therapists can read your mind!"

You might certainly feel that your psychotherapist can read your mind because she so accurately reflects the emotions you are feeling. This idea reflects the ability of good therapists to be attuned to their clients. This is actually a very desirable quality in a therapist and is not the same as reading your mind.

Therapeutic change occurs when the therapist is finely attuned to what you need emotionally. As you will learn repeatedly on this site it is our connection to each other that helps contain our emotions. The therapeutic relationship offers even more, for counseling can give us a greater capacity to be with our emotions.

From my own personal perspective it is our capacity to feel and manage our emotions that generates the quality of life many of us are searching for.

Therapy Tip

Attunement means more than just "good vibrations" that is, it doesn't always feel good for some people. For example it can be unnerving for someone who is uncomfortable with "being seen", whether or not this is the reason for going to counseling. And attunement can feel unfamiliar, even strange if you have never had it in a relationship before.

I have had a few introductory sessions with clients during which I felt a good attunement. Nonetheless they never returned, and while it could have been for any number of reasons, I suspect it was for this reason. It is almost as if the attunement in and of itself was overwhelming.

That said, good attunement is precisely the reason counseling can be so effective. It provides a real life stage on which you can safely experience troubling emotions. This provides your emotional brain with the opportunity to develop new neuropathways for feeling or responding differently.

Read more in my upcoming eBook, Choosing a Therapist why the best counseling comes from a therapist who is "attuned".

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Pages in this Article

1. "Therapists can read your mind!"
   
2. "Counseling is not very scientific."
3. "Therapists have psychic powers and can make me do anything they want."
4. “This is going to take forever.”
5. "I already know what I should be doing to stay healthy. I don't need a therapist to tell me."
6. "I don't need approval from a shrink."
7. "I might find something awful about myself."
8. "I might learn how screwed up I am."
9. "It is the therapist's job is to prod you into changing your behaviour."
10. “I don’t feel ready for change.”
11. "Counseling is for losers."
12. “My problems aren’t heavy enough for counseling.”
13. Counseling is NOT the only way.

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