You! Shake your Junk!

Oh Dear!

Well, the boss has been out of town for a few weeks. I'm holding down the fort in her absence. I'm pulling a lot of 10-hour days and am just BEAT when I get home each night. That's ok though, I don't really mind. It's just that once I leave the office, my brain sort of shuts off. This would be fine except for the fact that I have LOTS of things to get done. Oh well, another issue for another time.

I have something MUCH more interesting to discuss: TRANSFERENCE.

It has finally happened. Once of my clients believes that she is in love with me. I know what you are thinking. Yes, there are a LOT of problems with that situation. However, it is a VERY well known, very common, and very OLD phenomenon.

Freud himself talked about transference. (not that I'm necessarily a big Freud fan, but the reference speaks to the age of the phenomenon)

For now, I'm going to be extremely professional about it. I have to be. I mean, in college, when we discussed it, I remember one of my professors explaining that "if you are even HALF good at therapy, it will happen to you at some point." So, I guess that, in a little bit of a twisted way, this is a compliment. It speaks to my ability to build good rapport and empathize with my clients.

I already know how I'm going to handle it. First, I will call her in to discuss it. You see, we have to get it "out on the table." Next, I will explain transference to her. Hopefully she will understand that she only THINKS that she is in love with me. Her FEELINGS are just a bit misdirected. I will attempt to work professionally and compassionately with her to move past the issue. If she is unable or unwilling to move past the transference, I will be forced to offer to transfer her to another therapist.

Let's hope it doesn't come to that. I like her, as a client, and I had thought we were making some progress. Oh well, we'll see.

[WARNING: SYNAPTIC FAILURE. CLEVER QUOTE UNAVAILABLE]

--Iton