Re:more transference

There is a lot of truth in your assertion.

Last year I attended a conference & the well known visiting psychotherapy professor 'let the dog out of the bag' when he mentioned that he was missing his mutt so much that he felt like passing the photo he carried in his wallet around the group, but he didn't. It was quite apparent that he missed his pet more than his wife or anything else in the world. Perhaps he was afraid that we collectively & individually did not appreciate his anguish, that someone might spoil the photo or even worse put a curse on it. Most likely the photo represented something so precious that he was unable to allow himself to share his love with anyone except other proved friends that the dog itself decided to accept.

The old folks home down the road has several pet dogs that are loved by patients & staff and are fondled by visitors too. My son & I were cleaning up yesterday & found the card my wife got recently from her work mates after she had taken our Oriental cat had been 'put to sleep.' I got the job of collecting the body. It was in a plastic wallet. I dug a hole in front of the house & put a yellow rose on top of her. My wife often told visitors that Nikki was 'full of personality.' She was so elegant & demanding she must have been a Egyptian princess in a past life! My wife thinks that she was an Egyptian princess in a past life, seriously.

I mention all of this to illustrate that people in the 'real world' actually think & live & talk like this and do not indulge in sterile scientific thinking at all. As professional helpers we need to be with them where they are on their own ground & not trying to impose this or that theory on top of their heads.

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Re:more transference, by , 12/14/01

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