A therapist meets with a client over a period of time in and out of crisis. During this time they learn about the whole person, establish a therapeutic relationship and form professional judgments about the clients problems and potential solutions. In my opinion, a good therapist helps the client find a solution that works for them and helps them develop the skills to work out their own solutions. I have less respect for a therapist that assigns a client to a category and prescribes a solution.
Some of the things a therapist can do are: confront the disconnect between a clients reality and their reporting of that reality, suggest changes in behavior and thought and then evaluate the outcome from those changes over time, and help the client sort out chemical and medical issues that are compounding their problems.
I believe we step over the line of being peers when we categorize callers. When we talk about sexually abusive callers instead of sexually abusive calls; when we talk about borderline callers instead of calls that seem to be stuck reworking the same set of interpersonal calls. From a practical standpoint we are making these judgments without the necessary perspective of seeing the person under a number of conditions over a period of time; from an ethical perspective we are putting ourselves in a privileged position as someone capable of making such a judgment; from a relationship perspective we assume control because when we believe that understand their behaviors and inner workings.
Some of the things a therapist can do are: confront the disconnect between a clients reality and their reporting of that reality, suggest changes in behavior and thought and then evaluate the outcome from those changes over time, and help the client sort out chemical and medical issues that are compounding their problems.
I believe we step over the line of being peers when we categorize callers. When we talk about sexually abusive callers instead of sexually abusive calls; when we talk about borderline callers instead of calls that seem to be stuck reworking the same set of interpersonal calls. From a practical standpoint we are making these judgments without the necessary perspective of seeing the person under a number of conditions over a period of time; from an ethical perspective we are putting ourselves in a privileged position as someone capable of making such a judgment; from a relationship perspective we assume control because when we believe that understand their behaviors and inner workings.