Stage One: The Expert

As the Expert, I will tell you what your issues are, what your unhealthy patterns are, and how your relationship with your mother is affecting you now. I will analyze, interpret, and figure you out based on the theories I have studied. Because I believe people are flawed and need to be fixed, I, as the fixer, will work hard to make you better by making your unconscious conscious with insights.

It is important for me to maintain a relational distance that is hierarchical and neutral. I am a blank screen for my clients to project upon me. The relationship is not as important as the analysis. I can see into some of your feelings, beliefs, desires, and intentions but mostly in relation to the theoretical framework I am using and not so much through empathic understanding based on my own self-awareness. My own therapeutic processing and self-reflection is not important and necessary for me to be an effective therapist. I simply spot the problem and provide the analysis or solution that I believe fixes the problem. Medication is a tool I believe whole-heartedly in and use frequently — often as a first line of defense.