My best therapist is my mother. Who is yours?

You're implying that I need one!

~

We all do, though we may refuse to admit it because of some stigma attached.

Read "The Road Less Travelled" by M. Scott Peck. It's a very illuminating read.

LOL

My two best therapists over the years have been my surfboard and the Great and Glorious Harley.

Alas, I don't get to use my surfboard as much as I'd like, and Harley is no longer with us.

My best friend, the only person I can really be myself around--I adore him and I'm lucky to have him. 

Avoid Peck's, "People of the Lie".  Rubbish.

Your mother can't possibly be objective about you or give you objective advice as a professional therapist can.

I think any truthful person who has some compassion ... therapy is about listening and asking the right questions and letting or leading you to the answer that is right for you at that time

But it's also about helping you face the truth, even if it's uncomfortable and something you don't wish to hear or think about. A close relative may not always be objective enough to do that - especially if involves your feelings/emotions about that person.

Believe me, my parents could never have helped me get in touch and come to terms with my feelings about them as I did through psychoanalysis with a professional, qualified, OBJECTIVE therapist in an arm's-length, non-familial relationship..

My best friend, he's brutally honest, unyieldingly logical and he's been around long enough to spot much that I miss. He tells me the things I don't want to hear, but need to and the same vice versa.

My dear friend Neelie, I hope you know that I was merely joking.  I've sought therapy before, and on more than one occasion.

:)

Stu, I wonder how useful that perspective is.  She obviously has a deep affinity to and for her mother, and finds her counsel to be helpful.  It's true that mothers generally speaking are less objective than others, especially strangers, but I wonder if the fact that a mother has a child's best interests at heart make for a better choice than a stranger, albeit an educated and licensed one.  Trust is one of the most important components of successful therapy, and it exists in this situation between the two of them.  Not all of us have that blessing between ourselves and our parents (I should know; I live it).

You're well entitled to your opinion, I merely offer mine as well.

~

:)

Fair enough. But see my comment below. A parent may be quite helpful with many issues, but in my personal experience needing to deal with issues involving my feelings about and relationships with my mom and dad, an arm's-length, non-familial relationship with a professional psychoanalyst was necessary and beneficial.

My cat, PK.

I had another very close friend from college. But she passed away more than a year ago. I could be as free and open with her as I am with my mother; and moreover I used to get a younger person's perspective. 

But I don't want "professional" advice. My mother knows me inside out ad I place myself entirely in her hands with any issues, knowing she will understand my situation probably better than myself. A therapist would never kiss me and take away my pain; my mother does.

 

Correct, ozgirl; truthfulness, compassion and love are ingredients of a good therapist.

You're right, Stu, your parents could never have helped you with your issues, because your issues were with THEM. In such a case you do need an outsider, just as my mother would be an "outsider" to my own other issues. 

I hope "brutally" doesn't include "tactless". My mother is brutally honest but with a lot of tact. It comes naturally to her; and to my father to a large extent too, but not as much as her.

That's great, as long as you don't need to deal with issues about your relationship with your mom and how those might impact your life - for example, your relationships with work and  other people.That's all I'm saying. I don't think we disagree!

hannibal lecter