I've just read the description of Control-Mastery Theory and it is entirely possible I have misunderstood some points but what strikes me is that so much of it seems centered on the idea that patients test the therapist to see if they can arouse a reaction similar to what they fear they may have provoked in their parents. I know that this is not an uncommon way of looking at things and I wonder why that is so.
Assuming that it is true demands a neutrality on the part of the therapist which could be inordinately cruel and dismissive to the patient, if in fact, the patient operates differently.
Doesn't it seem possible that a patient is hoping for a therapist to perceive him wholly as he is and worthy of responding to unlike parents whose perception of the patient was perhaps based mostly on their own needs.
What I mean is that the therapists enthusiastic response says yes, I see you ...yes, you have power and that kind of existensial reassurance may help patients who were crushed in childhood to come forth. Neutrality may be further evidence that they don't exist or don't deserve to.
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