What I would like to tell you
Tuesday March 20, 2007
Alice, how your books and website have helped me and to thank you from the bottom of my heart –
1. Therapists. Are you the only person in the world who stands up for people being abused, misled and misguided by therapists? Like one of your readers letters, my last therapist told me he was in favour of physical punishment for boys to discipline them. He also told me of the total nightmare time he had with his son as a teenager. I was totally unsurprised at this outcome and immediately able to draw a link that he was simply unable to. I am looking again for a new therapist to help me finish the work I started in the last 2 years.
2. i think your work on therapists is one of your most lasting legacys. when one can stand up to one’s therapist, including their ignorance and abuse, one can truly stand up for oneself in the world. this is a new experience for me and one largely made possible because of your works, when i was being put down and misunderstood.
3. As you say in one of your letters (re. feeling like shit) “But this time you understood the connections and you can no longer be forced to remain silent”. I am beginning only – no longer remaining silent about anything I choose not to remain silent about. saying what you wish to say – it seems so simple – but one people like me have been deprived of and denied our whole lives it seems.
This process is beginning as I start to free myself from the confusion and guilt of my childhood.
one thing though – i do feel more lonely. i feel better yes but more lonely.
thank you again, dl.
AM: You say: ”when one can stand up to one’s therapist, including their ignorance and abuse, one can truly stand up for oneself in the world.
You are right, but only if the therapist represents the parental ignorance. I hope that there are also therapists who are able to bear criticism.