The God complex in therapy consultancy

The God complex in therapy consultancy

abstract:

What do you expect patient (customer) from you? Your life is in turmoil, problems rise from heaven and land right in front of your feet and you need answers. Here there is a risk for therapists to become everything for him, father figure, sexual object, confessor, advisor and, above all, the only person who has ever really listened and understood him! In this article, we will examine the dangers for both therapists and clients when both parties begin to see the therapist as a god - who knows everything - everything - understands everything, a being that magically conjure up all these terrible feelings and an abandoned, well -adapted happy person is behind them.

Introduction:

Since the beginning of the therapists in the early 19th century, patients have been adopting their doctors as something special among all the people they know, whether male or female, it does not matter, but the relationship structure of the powerless in the spell of the powerful. Freud and others realized that patients often transfer their needy feelings to the therapist (consultant) in the form of a love object. After some time of the therapy, most actually find that their feelings for the therapist decrease in respect or care, but not as intensely as in the early sessions. This bell-shaped emotion diagram shows the early distrust of dependence to possible co-dependency and finally the detachment from the caregiver to an independent, self-supporting state of mind. Of course, the same therapists have recognized that dependence in the countertransference works conversely, where the therapist becomes dependent on the patient (client) and experiences the detachment anxious and anxious and as a loss.

In order for therapists to be able to deal with the problem, sophisticated rules have been developed over the years and expressed as behavioral limits (ethics). In these rules, the therapist should be aware of the transmission in both directions and deal with the situation through gentle rejection and insurance towards the client that these feelings are normal and will pass. For many therapists and clients, however, these intense emotional feelings do not always disappear and ethical limits are exceeded by the therapist who allows their need for adoration and god -like treatment to make their judgment for the patient's well -being and further treatment.

God as worship

What does the therapist tempt to slip into the God complex so easily? A definition is that the therapist himself has a needy personality from childhood. Where from a large family of siblings, where the parents have to share the available love - where the competition for attention often leads to frustration and feelings of being alone, even in a house that is surrounded by others. As adults, they often look for people who give in nature to satisfy their need for attention, which unfortunately lacked childhood. So if the therapist is confronted with an attentive client, he can find that he is eating his loving worship and enjoys the attention, the adoration of the client that enables the therapist to feel powerful, loved and above all used.

A second area is the therapist's self -esteem. The therapist may have the feeling that he does not fulfill his own professional standards, that he lets his clients down through lack of knowledge and lack of professionalism, and therefore constantly searches for clients who assure them through their god -like worship that they do a good job. that they succeed in feeling better. The therapist constantly asks the client questions such as "Do you feel better?", "Have things improved?" And "Does this session help you?" All of these are real questions that every therapist should ask from time to time to check or measure progress, but if he is asked too often, this can indicate that the therapist is looking for recognition or praise for the previous work. In other words, you want to hear that you do a good job for the customer. Here the therapist's self -esteem can be strengthened and help him to continue to treat clients with a newly gained self -confidence. However, this trust is only temporary, since the self -doubt creeps in over time and the client needs further confirmation to bring the ego back to its god -like heights. If a certain client constantly praises the therapist, the therapist in turn creates a need for this client, which makes it necessary to continue the treatment. To achieve this, the therapist is constantly looking for new reasons not to continue the sessions for the sake of the client, but for his own needs.

A third area is professional snobism, here the therapist has to keep a good reputation, a need for recognition both by the client as an expert and the admiring public for his outstanding work or performance. Here the therapist becomes the center of the advisory process, in which he is great in his divine status among colleagues and in public. This dangerous self -ity can lead to ruthlessness on the part of the patients who believe that this person is the omniscient God who responds to their need to be treated by the best - that with the excellent reputation among his peers - the therapist who is difficult to see (with an appointment) because they are so busy and asked. Of course, the same therapist has to pay the highest fees, and so the client perceives that he gets the best because he pays the most.

The crisis trap

Every therapist is aware of the trap of the transfer and counter -payment and, despite this knowledge, can be drawn into an unhealthy situation, even without knowing what happens until a crisis arises in which the patient and therapist make at the intersection of an emotional abyss, where decisions are made about the continuation of the therapy itself and the detachment of those emotions that have been very sneaked up. In this situation, the therapist has the difficult task of repairing the relationship by either weakening his own reactions on the client or recommending the client to see a new therapist. For the therapist, who is addicted to the attention of the client, this is a difficult decision - exactly the person who gives him the need that he has put on. For some therapists there are other concerns, such as being found out, a professional complaint, a random family interference or a crisis of trust in regard to their own advisory skills. This can lead to an anxiety reaction that affects the meetings and results of other clients. A therapist in an emotional crisis cannot effectively help clients if they take care of their own well -being than that of the patient.

results

is it so surprising that we, as a therapist, need less than all other love and attention that needs are fulfilled that we feel wanted and appreciated by others? Therefore, it is not surprising that, given the opportunity to feel worship in a god -like way, so many therapists fall out of favor and get into the trap of hero worship through precisely the clients that they should take care of because of their emotional needs and help them grow with their own (client) real life problems and get forward to get ready with life.

There is no simple solution for this phenomenon of transmission and easy guidance to avoid avoiding the situation, would be pointless, since each situation entails different dynamics that every therapist must counter and thus deal with it. However, it would be unfair not to show some obvious rule of thumb for therapists who succumb to the adoration of God, at least to think.

As soon as you as a therapist find that boundaries have been exceeded, a general conversation with a specialist colleague can help to confirm his personal perspective about themselves and the affected clients. Second, the therapist should consider breaking with the client and thus ending the unhealthy situation by recommending another therapist (normally the same sex as the client). Thirdly, if the transmission is one -sided (only from the client), then the client to explain and explain the reasons for his feelings to the therapist and explain how a reverse bell -like pattern of emotions can be seen as a healthy progression through the stages of the therapist in the end. This mutual respect is a far healthier result as a god -like adoration that can actually influence the result of the treatment. The "I am OK-Your OK" position to take that both parties involved in the transfer have to be met and that these needs have to be recognized, but within the limits of good ethical practice. Fourthly, it can be seen that it is a rewarding reward to be appreciated by the client for his work, but that there are limits to this praise, which with realism in terms of the role of therapist in advice as a guide and not as a deity, the client must be worshiped.

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