best advice I have for therapy is that you can’t go in there expecting your shrink to be robin williams from good will hunting, or florence nightingale, or your mom, or god, or the emotional equivalent of a housekeeper. also can’t cede them the power of letting them be the primary source for your psychoeducation.
they’re not your superior, you’re not equals, they’re there to support you.
You are allowed to disagree with your therapist. You are allowed to say "I think you might be off-base about this." Sometimes they put the cart before the horse or don't understand your personal chronology. I'm seeing someone who wants to pin my quitting smoking on some other problems. No, these issues existed before I quit smoking, that's not an accurate assessment. She didn't seem to believe me because for her it would have been a very tidy cause -> effect. I had to clarify things for her. You are not correct. That's not what this is. Try again
You don't need to worry that you're going to hurt their feelings by disagreeing with them. You know your situation better than anyone else. You're allowed to course-correct. You're also allowed to say "I'm not comfortable talking about that right now." Sometimes you need to build trust with a therapist before you're ready to unpack certain things, and that's OK. Therapists aren't cops, they're not your parent or your boss, you are allowed to say no

















