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This message has been edited. Last edited by: June,

Hmm, I never noticed this until you mentioned it. I always assumed it was because he was thinking. I don't make eye contact when I'm thinking or considering an answer, so it seemed normal to me.

Now that I think about it, looking down while answering a question seems a little dishonest or deceitful. Are they trying to hide something?

Hmm... I don't know. I didn't actually notice.
I will try to pay attention next time, but as far as I remember, my T is looking away when he is thinking. I think when he answers, he is looking at me. Sometimes he would be talking looking away, like last time, it was just bla, bla, bla... and I didn't quite feel him being present and really seeing me. I have to point this out and give out to him next time.
But when he says something important he usually looks at me, I always look at him when he is talking, I look for his eyes and I want to see that he really means it. I can't say that I always see him as 100% true, but I guess he is trying, and he is not always at his best.

Hi FOT

Interesting thread - my T looks at me the whole time. I can't maintain that gaze but she's always looking intently at me when I do

Dragonfly, really interested by what you posted about direction of gaze. Do you know what other directions might mean? . . . upwards or to the left? Just curious

starfish

I think you can google this stuff, about the eyes when people are in conversation, I even saw something (I think it was on youtube) about it. It's really interesting and can tell you a lot about someone. I'll see if I can find what I'm talking about when I have a bit more time and post a link here. Thanks for mentioning this! I'm going to pay more attention to my T now and see what I can make of her eye movements and what it's really saying.

Hi Free...
My T usually looks at me, but sometimes I will ask him a question and he looks up and to the right. He says he is checking his body before responding. I think he thinks the answeres are somewhere in his body- that his body holds memories of stuff.
Interesting topic- thanks.

From what I've heard and read on several occasions, looking down can either mean that someone is talking to themselves or they are accessing internal emotions. I'd imagine that either one is very possible when it comes to our therapists. This is a very interesting topic to bring up!

Here is a website that talks about eye movement and I found it interesting. It's making me more interested in learning about body language in general. http://www.nlp-mentor.com/eye-body-language.html

Thats kind of interesting because I have noticed that one of my old therapists used to do that to me all the time. My psychiatrist that I have been seeing for 10 years looks at me the whole time. It sometimes drives me crazy. But especially when he is giving an emotional response he makes sure he is looking at me because he wants me to see his response and his emotions. Sometimes it really helps and makes me feel good that he has not problem talking about any issue while looking directly at me, but sometimes I wish he would look away because I dont want to him to see exactly what I am feeling and I am scared of seeing his feelings.

Pippi-
that how it is for me, and I couldn't agree with you more.

My t says that he processes information more kinesthetically. He says he has a felt sense of things. I will check his eyes on that.
cool info.

Ugh. Anyone else worried that their T is reading their visual cues now? I am!!

SB, I've been worried about that for a while now. But then what DON'T I worry about when it comes to my T?! LOL!

I know my T and P watch my body language and they will point it out sometimes if they notice something and I refuse to admit how I am feeling or that I am anxious, cause they say they can read anything I am feeling, which makes me want to try to hide it even more...but they always know.

Hi Pippi,
Now that would just piss me off. (can I say that here) Especially since so often I don't know how I am feeling.
I would have to rely on my body language to tell my T how I am feeling so he can tell me? That is just wrong, and way to open for interpretation.
Hele