<p>Oh, sorry I misread the part about being a patient rather than a therapist. I graduated over 25 years ago and am hard-pressed at this point to remember many of my classmates. I’m sure there were a few that I thought that of. I reread the “list of twelve” and I think I was struck at the first reading by the more bizarre ones such as eating. Upon rereading it, I have to say that the list does include some common offenses although I still maintain that the therapists I respect would hate to be committing any of them. There is at least one therapist in my suite of eight offices (I’m not in business with the people in my suite, we just share space), who does stuff that I consider to be inappropriate. I can tell that pretty much everyone in my office runs on time – on the hour. So the “showing up late” thing doesn’t happen much in my suite as far as I can tell. I never find clients languishing in the waiting room wondering where their therapist is. I would smell the food if people were eating – food is not an issue in our suite. I cannot vouch for yawning or sleeping nor can I vouch for inappropriate disclosures although I know that the therapists I consult with have very good boundaries and we talk about the disclosure issue quite a bit. Is it “self reporting?” Yes. But we’re all in there because we want to be held accountable and we don’t just self-report – we ask each other hard questions, etc . I can’t vouch for how accessible people are by voice mail and/or how distracted they are by cell phones, etc. I see a lot of therapists in my building and never see anyone showing off too much wealth, etc. – maybe they have it to show off! No pets in our building and I don’t know about note-taking – I don’t take notes while working and neither do most of the therapists I consult with, except perhaps in an intake session. Inappropriate hugging bugs the heck out of me and I do think it’s one of the bigger boundary issues with some therapists. Are therapists sometimes the “walking wounded?” Yes. But so are most people. And even if a therapist came to the field somehow having lived a few decades without suffering, that is no guarantee that life isn’t going to deal them some harsh blows during the course of their professional life. By the way, one other way I can tell a bit of what goes on with other therapists is when I inherit their clients and hear all about what they liked and didn’t like about their previous therapist. Yes, I’ve heard some doozies. And I’ve heard about a lot of good work done by other therapists (reasons for changing range from the therapist no longer being available to geographical relocation of the client, etc.) As for the issue of self-reporting, maybe I give it too much credence but, remember, all I have in the room with clients is the self-reporting that they do – what they tell me. Self-reporting is a big part of what goes on in therapy. Would you want a therapist who disbelieved what you told them?</p>
<p>if you have issues with stress, I would look into core energetics. I know several people who were in talk-therapy type approaches for years, and were really helped by core therapists.</p>
<p>Let’s face it, in every field there are going to be oddballs. You just have to do your homework, get a good referral from your physician and go for it. Cognitive therapy has worked in my extended family on several occasions…doesn’t take long to work, either.</p>
<p>I have a friend who is a therapist and who is seeing a therapist herself because of issues with her family. I commend her for getting help. Therapy is something that is so personal that it is difficult to objectively treat yourself or your family. I see no problem in therapists needing help, just as doctors can need medical care.</p>
<p>mimk6, I think we are on the same page. Not only do I see no problem in therapists getting therapy, I think they should. I just wanted to be clear about that.</p>