What do Belle de Jour and I have in common?
- We both get paid for services that in an ideal world would be provided by a loved one.
- Most of our clients wouldn't willingly admit in public that they actually are one of our clients.
- Confidentiality is everything. Without it we are damned.
- Occasionally I bump into a client whilst out being a normal person. It would only be more awkward if I actually had had sex with them.
- Most of the time I am the person whom my clients need me to be. Not consciously. Certainly not manipulatively. And that person changes from moment to moment. But there are aspects of me that clients will never knowingly see. (The unthought known is an entirely different matter...) Hence this blog. You might call it self-indulgent. I call it just more therapy.
2 comments:
This is a great post...
I have strong concerns about this post.
I have visited both escorts and psychotherapists professionally. I have no problem in saying that I visit a psychotherapist to anyone.
However there is a huge stigma about visiting an escort - and my wife might not be too pleased!
I don't think that the services of a psychotherapist could ideally be provided by a loved one. This implies that mental health problems could all be solved if our loved ones understood us better and communication was good. Mental health problems are more complex than that. If you think that your only skiils are in offering support and listening in a caring framework then I am concerned at the lack of value you put on your own professional skills and training.
I am concerned if you feel there is a similar stigma about visiting you. Why would a client not want to acnowledge you in public? If you were my psychotherapist and ignored me if we met I would regard it as extremely rude whereas I would regard an escort in the same position as being totally discreet
It is a sad reflection of our society that there is still such stigma attached to mental health problems that affect a high percentage of the population.
I am horrified to hear a psychotherapist almost endorsing such a position.
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