Question for grad students/interns

[KyoZero]

So last night I was in class and we were roleplaying. I was therapist and got flustered when my colleague played as a divorced mother whose children were taken from DCFS and didn't trust me. She played angry towards me and after several minutes I literally ran out of things to say and became flustered. Anyone else have this experience ever?

I know we all have some self doubt from time to time but is it normal for a student/intern to get flustered sometimes?

-Kyo

[SWM]

Hi,

[edit] i wrote the response below and I then read your introduction which explains you are studying a jungian future therapist model. I am not familiar with this model of therapy but i am pretty sure that my comments below would still stand. especially during early sessions when relationship building and especially with an angry patient.]


you say you ran outof things to say, this seems as though you are coming at therapy from the perspective that the therapist should be doing something to the client, such as giving advice or telling the person how to think/ feel/ act in a given situation.

rather than having an inventory of things to say the therapist would be faciliting the movement of the client from an undesired emotional state to  a desired emotional state via listening and cooperating with the client.

rather than start off with the intention of telling the patient how to think/ feel/ act, start form the perspective of hearing and understanding what the patient has to say.  

in this sense you do not have an inventory of things to say which you can run out of, instead the patient has a complex emotional psychological problem they want to express and you are able to collaborate in their expressing it.

[KyoZero]

I should have explained myself better. I was taking a client-centered approach with her. And by running out of things to say I don't mean I had a list, rather that I had no way to bring her down off her manic and angry condition and it flustered me. Basically I ran out of ideas

What I was wondering is if other interns/students ever had this happen

-Kyo

[SWM]

if you were using a person centred approach then my original points are more relavent.

but yes i have had it happen when i was a student.