Psychology Therapists

[Mairzydotes]

How far do these people have to keep themselves separate (not the rightword, but although it's at the back of my head, it won't come) from patients?
EG would it be normal for a patient to be told 'So and so (a person) is the cause of all your problems'.
I would find this unprofessional, but it has happened to an aquaintance of mine. (NO it really isn't me trying to hide!)

[banjobabe]

Hey Mairzydotes,

I have had loads of therapy and I have never been told that the cause of all my problems is down to anything or anyone. Mind you I have cognitive therapy and it may be that is not the same type as your friend is receiving. I usually find that the therapist asks me pertinent questions which lead to me finding my own answers. It might be worth checking if the therapist is registered. It seems odd to me but like I say it may be a different type of therapy.

Hope this helps but I feel like I'm rambling!

xxxxxx

[Mairzydotes]

Thank you for your reply.. it's as I thought!
This person is having cognitive therapy for depression, and tells me 'my therapist says that X is the highest risk factor against me making a full recovery'.
It seems to me that she is being very manipulative!
Good luck with your own therapy.. and I do appreciate the time you took to reply to my question.
Best wishes,
Mairzydotes

[soulstar11]

As banjobabe said, CBT or cognitive therapy works best when the individual can find out answers for themselves (usually guided by the therapist). Therefore, it's hard to know exactly what was said in the session. A more helpful statement / question might be "you've previously accepted this behaviour from blah blah, given that you now have new coping strategies / you are less depressed / anxious etc, do you think you are likely to continue improving if you continue to tolerate this unaccetable behaviour?"

It's important to mention that our early experiences play a big part in this therapy. These more often than not involve parents, bully at school, brother , sister etc, and often we form opinions of ourselves based on the way one or more of these people treated us. As such, it's not that unusual to pinpoint an individual as being responsible for the patient's formation of inaccurate beliefs about themelves. However, the idea is not to hunt down a "perpetrator", but to help the patient to understand how they are not "weird / freak / mad / incurably depressed etc" but that they are just reacting as most people would if they were drip fed inaccurate (usually negative) information about themselves.

So, a hard one to judge. As has been suggested, check the registration. More importantly, if your friend is distressed about this; find another therapist. If not, encourage them to ask the therapist if they should appoint "blame" to an individual, or just try to understand their actions.
Hope this makes some sense. Best of luck.