I almost forgot to mention that my counselor asked if I would let her read my blog, as she felt it might help her gain additional insight into where I have been emotionally through this process. I told her she could, but then I forgot to give her the url. . . . and now I'm wondering whether that would be a bad idea.
Your thoughts? For those of you who have sought counseling related to your IF, would you want your counselor reading your blog?
interesting question and hard for me to answer since I am a therapist (as well as an IF pt). I think that I would not my therapist to read my journal and my blog is like my journal, so my answer would be no. That does not mean I would not want her to see specific posts, but this is for me and I would hate to feel I needed to censor myself based on who might be reading, just my two cents though.
ReplyDeleteI am getting ready to have my first session in a few weeks. And I thought about this last night.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what I'd do. I am leaning towards a yes... I mean, it's what I am there for. I just don't want to come off as more crazy than I already think I am! lol!
cgd: I definitely can see your perspective (and it's a particularly interesting one, since you are a therapist also).
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I'd let someone else read my private journal, but to me, though this blog contains many private thoughts and feelings, it's not truly private in the same way. Probably because I've known all along that other people are reading it.
I do worry that I might censor myself in future, though. Although I will admit, I already censor myself to a degree, to avoid hurting the feelings of those who I know are reading.
Although I don't write a blog, I do write a journal and I send snippets to my psychologist. My journal consists mostly about the crap I've gone through as well as my gripes concerning insurance. She is always interested in reading them and helping her other clients with similar issues.
ReplyDeleteT
My two cents' worth is no. It's a boundary issue and the therapist should not have asked. She could have asked you to keep a separate journal for discussion. Her reasoning "to get to know you" demonstrates laziness in my opinion. Your relationship with her, the building of rapport and trust takes time. Time for you to assess her as a therapist and for her to "work" to assess your issues. As I said, just my two cents'.
ReplyDeleteHm. That's a tough one. I don't think I would. But I can't really place a finger on why I feel that way.
ReplyDeleteI'd probably feel too vulnerable. I'm not sure exactly what I mean, but I've been literally staring at my screen for 5 minutes trying to figure it out, and I can't.
So...I'm sure that was helpful. TGIF :)
Hmmm, tough question. I would be torn about showing my blog to my counsellor. If it means being able to move forward with things though, I would probably do it.
ReplyDeleteAs to censoring yourself, a while ago my brother found my blog. I don't know if he still reads it and at first I really wanted to censor myself, but I fought the urge. Now I very rarely even think about whether he's reading along or not.
I absolutely think you should give her the url. And try (hard) not to censor yourself. You might actually forget that she's reading it. I think it will help her understand where you've been.
ReplyDeleteMy thought on this is no, I would not want a counselor reding my blog.
ReplyDeleteNow, I'm just speaking for myself here, but my blog is for a particular audience, the IF audience, and I think as such there are different norms that I adhere to that would not necessarily go over so well IRL. I think my blog can be a little whiny and a little "woe-is-me" sometimes (and believe it or not, I am NOT like that IRL!), but I think the IF community is very good at boosting me out of my dark days, and so I don't feel guilty about posting something brutally honest but perhaps kind of depressing if that's how I feel. But when I think about possibly letting anyone IRL life read my blog, I think they would think that I am nuts! Now, I know a counselor is different, and she should see all sides of her patients, but yes, I would be afraid that I would begin to, if not exactly "censor" myself, at the very least start to cater to this new audience that I knew I had. Maybe I'm not expressing myself well here, but your post was very thought provoking to me because it's occured to me before that how I present myself in my blog is not at all how I present myself in "everyday" life.
I would jump at the chance! A resounding YES from me! What a great way to let her gain additional insight and help you even more. Plus, you are not limited by the pauses IRL where you have to gather your thoughts or composure when conveying your feelings about this sensitive issue you're dealing with. Plus, it might also help her help other clients of hers that are dealing with the same issues. Additionally, it gives her so much more info than you can convey in the relatively short amount of time that you have in your sessions.
ReplyDeleteYES, YES, YES!