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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
[email protected]Shown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by sara77 on March 16, 2009, at 0:16:47
Anyone ever had a their t as a professor?
Posted by sassyfrancesca on March 16, 2009, at 8:52:20
In reply to Dual relationship with t???, posted by sara77 on March 16, 2009, at 0:16:47
No, but I am having a dual relationship with my t....actually the term "dual" has been changed (in the apa code) to "multiple" relationships, and I think most recently it was changed again....I forget what the terminology is right now
I am taking psych. classes and eventually my t will be my professor.
Sassy
Posted by backseatdriver on March 16, 2009, at 9:04:14
In reply to Re: Dual relationship with t??? » sara77, posted by sassyfrancesca on March 16, 2009, at 8:52:20
It helps me to think of dual or multiple relationships as relationships where participants play a variety of roles simultaneously. I've had "dual" relationships with professors who were at once teachers, colleagues, collaborators, lovers, and friends. There were power imbalances galore. But in the end, things turned out okay. These relationships are easy to pathologize because we generally like to think of all relationships as necessarily and ideally between equals. We have the idea that: if there's no equality, then there's no real relationship. But we live in the real world where power operates, and not in a purely power-free utopia; sometimes we're up, sometimes we're down. For me, part of the task of development has included learning how and when to wield power responsibly and how and when to be directed -- again, responsibly.
The poet Vicki Hearne wrote a book called "Adam's Task" which contains an essay about dog training ("How to Say Fetch") that is really an essay about the reciprocity of uneven or shifting power balances between *people*.
BSD
Posted by sara77 on March 16, 2009, at 9:48:28
In reply to Re: Dual relationship with t??? » sara77, posted by sassyfrancesca on March 16, 2009, at 8:52:20
Good luck with that! My t is my professor and is extremely uncomfortable!!!
Posted by seldomseen on March 16, 2009, at 19:17:06
In reply to Re: Dual relationship with t???, posted by sara77 on March 16, 2009, at 9:48:28
I think I would be more than a little uncomfortable with this situation too if I were in your shoes. In my opinion, having my therapist also be my professor would just be too much.
Can you describe a little bit more how this happened?
I know that is some college-based student psychological services, therapists are gathered from the psychology teaching faculty on occasion to provide short term therapy, but even then I think that is rare.
What does your therapist have to say about it?
Seldom
Posted by sara77 on March 16, 2009, at 21:06:24
In reply to Re: Dual relationship with t??? » sara77, posted by seldomseen on March 16, 2009, at 19:17:06
We are in a small town, and he teaches in the program I am in. He asked if i was going to take his class because he is the only one who teaches it.
Posted by Dinah on March 18, 2009, at 8:36:19
In reply to Dual relationship with t???, posted by sara77 on March 16, 2009, at 0:16:47
I haven't had that experience. In fact I bolt like a frightened hare when I have therapist sightings outside their native habitat. I can happily say that I've seen him three or four times when he used to live near me, but he never saw me at all.
But my thought would be that it could be rather hurtful, depending on your relationship with your therapist. In the therapy room, we have an intimate relationship of a sort. One that would be improper in a classroom. In fact, I met my therapist at a seminar he was giving on stress and anxiety, and I'd never take one now from him. I'm no stranger to dual relationships in other areas of my life. I've worked with both my father and my husband. But in those relationships, they were father and husband in the office as well. I was the same person to them, and they were the same person to me. I don't see how that could happen in a classroom, with a therapist.
Still teacher's kids manage to have mom as a teacher. And if you have no choice, you have no choice. But maybe it would be good to have these conversations with him so you'll be prepared? Ask him how he believes he/you will be different in class as opposed to in therapy? And how he generally handles it? It might depend a lot on the therapist. I went back the other day because I had forgotten my handbag, and I was not surprised but very disconcerted to meet up with "Professional X" as opposed to "Therapist X".
This is the end of the thread.
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