When you dream about your therapist, what does it mean? In this insightful video, Evan, our mental health and addiction therapist, explores this intriguing topic. He discusses the importance of understanding therapist boundaries, transference, the normalcy of such dreams, and their impact on the therapeutic relationship. This concise guide offers clarity and reassurance for anyone who's navigated this unique aspect of therapy, providing valuable insights into the deeper connections within the therapeutic process.
Evan: What do I do when I start having complicated feelings towards my therapist. He says understanding a crucial concept in therapy known as transference. Do I share with them or not about these feelings? Evan: It's okay to keep it to yourself. There is value in sharing that with them.
It's important to maintain good boundaries with your therapist. Sometimes knowing too much about your therapist or them crossing lines is toxic for the therapeutic process. Remember that these things are normal. Don't be hard on yourself.
So a follower told me that they had a dream about their therapist, and it may have been a little more than just a dream, but it brings up an interesting topic, which I get a lot, which is, what do I do when I start having complicated feelings towards my therapist, whether it's romantic, anger, or otherwise? I'm Evan, your resident mental health and addiction therapist, and these are five things to consider. If you start having complicated feelings toward your therapist and don't know what to do about it.
First, remember, if you had a dream about your therapist or they're entering your mind at random times, that's normal. You're sharing a lot of things with your therapist. You're being very vulnerable, and they're providing a lot of support, so it's normal for those things to happen, and it doesn't necessarily mean anything more than that. Number two is understanding a crucial concept in therapy known as transference. And this is really common. Your therapist may remind you of someone. They may seem to take on the role of someone you, you know, whether that's good or bad.
So it's something you have to be careful of, because sometimes you can project those feelings to them, and that could hinder the process. However, if you can recognize it, sometimes that could be very beneficial and you could talk through it. But also know that we therapists are susceptible to this as well. It's called countertransference. We have to be careful that there's not things that you remind us of that's tainting the way we view you or our relationship. Number three begs the question, do I share with them or not about these feelings I'm having or that dream that I had about them?
And I say that if you understand where that feeling is coming from, if you feel like that, it's not tainting the relationship in any way. It's okay to keep it to yourself. However, there is value in sharing that with them. Therapists, we've heard it all, and we're trained to deal with this type of stuff. So that brings us to number four, and that is, it's important to maintain good boundaries with your therapist. Sometimes we connect with them very well, and we want to be friends with them, or maybe even more.
But we have to understand that having good boundaries is what makes the relationship work. Sometimes knowing too much about your therapist or them crossing lines is also really toxic for the therapeutic process. So do your best to maintain boundaries and expect your therapist to do the same. And number five is to remember that these things are normal. Don't be hard on yourself. We can't always control what we dream about or what's in our subconscious. It's more about what we do about it, how we process those emotions, how we talk about them with our therapist, and maintaining those boundaries.
So I want to know, have you had experience with this? Have you put feelings onto your therapist that you weren't necessarily sure of what to do with it? Let's hear your story and how you handled it. Our channel.
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