ABSTRACT
The chapter begins with a brief case for any therapist being in therapy at any time. In the first place, since therapists are ordinary humans to whom painful things can happen, they need as much help as anyone does to work through difficult times. Second, the job demands large reserves of emotional presence and resilience, and since therapists cannot talk about their work at home or with friends, they often bring the trouble stirred up by their work to their own therapy. Third, most therapists take up the work because we know something about emotional pain and psychological dissonance from the inside. Negative self-with-other model scenes are invaluable when they play themselves out so strongly because they make plain exactly what is getting in the way of healthier, happier relationship. Relational therapists understand that the bad feelings a client brings to therapy have their origins in how he experiences himself in relation to others in his life.
