HI UV,

Starting reading the article and found it very interesting. Just wondering how you get your therpist to talk about all this stuff with you? I can't get mine to go anywhere near anything like this. I'd love for him to talk to me about theories and neuroscience but he just won't do it. Not yet anyway. Maybe I have to be in therapy another five years.

Also wondering, UV, how does Kernberg's take differ from Kohut?

liese,
mine wont either. she has told me before she feels like she is talking to a colleague more than she does with a patient when i bring stuff up.
she said she wont talk to me about it because she feels like i will use the information to disrupt the therapy and use it in a destructive way. like i will find out how things work and then tell her she is doing things wrong. hopefully yours has an entirely different reason for not engaging on this stuff.
i too was surprised when i read that UV discuss this with T.

uv, as always, good stuff. very interesting. i copied several passages and pasted to an email i am going to send my t prior to each session, the day before, she invited this, not that she really reads it then, but, i think, as to get it off of my chest so i can sleep well.

this empathy is something i struggle with with her, and altho i have not thought of myself as narcissistic, i do identify with alot in this article, namely, the reliance of others to reflect my worth. i think that aspect of 'getting into' my perspective and seeing how things are from my eyes is something she just hasn't been able to convince me she has done. or will do. i feel 'watched', and evaluated, and judged...which i know is her job, but maybe if i felt more like she was on my side, it would be better.

thanks for the good reading and it is good to see you here!! jill