Does your T have anything in their office that bothers you?

I'm interested to hear if anyone has been bothered by anything that their t keeps in their office.

If so, what was it? How did it make you feel? Did you tell your t about it and how did they react?

I hated the first woman's couch - it was horribly uncomfortable. I took in my own folding chair sometimes. She did not have a chair for clients - just the awful couch. I did not say anything - it was not my office -she was free to decorate her office any way she saw fit - I just took in my own chair to solve the problem.

Not really. We did have some amusing discussions about some items in his office though. He keeps all of his "gifts" from clients and they are displayed in various places. He has everything from framed artwork to little happy meal plastic toys given to him by children. A few of the items are rather odd and I asked him once, "What IS that?" LOL. (It was this weird figurine thing -- kind of modern art I guess.) But not really "bothered" by any of the stuff in his office. I like it all; showed his personality. Even the gifts from clients were telling; he knew exactly who gave him what - didn't tell me by name but it was clear from how he talked about them - some of them dated back years.

I'm with stopdog. I hate Regular T's couch. She moved to a new office this month, and apparently the furniture at her old office didn't belong to her. So now she has this overstuffed couch. I can't quite sit back in it and have my feet flat on the floor, and if I sit with my feet flat on the floor then my back is not at the back of the couch. Frustrating. She has lots of artwork on the walls, which is fine, and books and papers and pictures on her desk. I guess I would describe it as cozy. But that couch--it's horrible.

She's the most bothersome thing in the room most of the time.

I don't recall anything significant in therapists' offices. One had an office the size of a closet, with no windows. Another, which I went to only once, had about six pets jumping around.

What sticks out more is in my psychiatrist's office. He has this old uncomfortable wooden chair. It is sort of the implied chair to use. I hated it. One day, years ago, I simply asked him if he has it as a torture device for his patients. He then told me I could sit wherever I wanted. I plopped my butt right smack in the middle of a sofa he had. That was in bad shape, too, but better than the chair. Then he eventually replaced the sofa with a beautiful one. I've enjoyed that since.

My psychiatrist used to have a beautiful original painting of a vase filled with forsythia. I really loved it a lot! I would talk about it occasionally, and every early spring would say "You know, Dr. R, the forsythia is now blooming." And he would say that he knew. Then one day I looked over towards it, and it was gone. Replaced. I nearly screamed out in horror. He then asked me if I recognized where the new painting is set. I guessed Nova Scotia, but was wrong. Apparently it is an historical building in my childhood hometown in NJ. I was so upset that I went home and wrote in a card that I had specifically bought for him for the future (one with forsythia on it) that I was sad, but thought it nice that the replacement was set where I grew up. We've never talked about either painting since, or even forsythia. He never acknowledged receipt of the card, but I'm sure he got it.

He always has a stack of papers and things on his desk, which I really wish he would organize... but that’s because I’m a relatively organized person. There’s a large closet/wardrobe sort of thing, and I’ve always wondered what’s in it. Probably a bunch of crap that he can’t be bothered to organize.

He also has a wall with floor to ceiling bookshelves that are overflowing with books. It amuses me to read the book titles. When I was going through my Mari Kondo phase, the sheer number of books gave me shivers, but fortunately I’ve calmed down from that.

Yes! That loud ticking clock!

His decor is really bland, it's like he went to a furniture store and just bought a set of stuff in beige. So there's no specific thing that bothers me but the whole thing just has no personality. Some people just don't have an eye for that kind of thing, I guess.

However, the office walls are thin and sometimes I can hear people talking in the hall outside. That bothers me because I get distracted by it.

I hate seeing mine after lunch because sometimes he will still have his lunch dishes out.

I also hate that he can't see the clock from his seat. He always checks his phone for the time and I know he's listening but still.

T’s office is super comfortable and homey to me. He has one door in his office that I want to know what’s behind it... but if it is what I think it is... then I do NOT want to know LOL (I thing it is a bathroom which just creeps me out. The thing that bothers me the most though is that while his office is bright, open and very neat there are no corners that I can sit in. He either has something in them or there is a cord or something in the way. I would like to be able to retreat to a corner, or at least have one there, if I needed to.

probably not what you meant but my college T one year put real Christmas wreath in her off at Christmas. I am highly allergic go them (as in it effect my breathing and my throat starts to close. I said nothing and pretended I was fine. By the time I left the office I was having a hard time breathing. I was afraid of upsetting her if I said something. In my defense though, because I was so allergic I was never in a position where I had been exposed that I could remember. Ut all happened when I was a few months old.

That’s honestly like therapist 101.... they’re supposed to be able to see a clock. I would suggest raising it to him and telling him that when he checks his phone, it interferes with your train of thought, and perhaps he could move or add a clock to someplace within his line of vision... but I know that raising these sorts of things is much easier said than done.

Thanks for the replies. It's interesting to read about the range of things that bother clients in a T's office.

My t has cushions that are shedding feathers. Luckily I'm not allergic but the feathers bother me. There are other things about T's office which really bother me though and I think I will have to bring those up with her as they are interfering with my therapy. I can't really mention them here as they are quite specific.

.....
(deleted )

Well, I can't really complain too much, because my T does have a poem I wrote for her, framed, in her office. The other one I gave her, she said, is in her home.

But the things that bother me the most are some pieces of pottery that another client (whom I know, but no longer speak to) made. I also know (don't ask me how) that T was either given a specific piece or bought a specific piece from this potter, and I wonder about the ethics of that, but, since I'm not supposed to know what I know, I can't talk about it with her.

My t office is extremely bland and ugly. I don’t understand how she can spend all day there. It’s literally awful.

Update: I realized yesterday that my poem is no longer in her office. I mentioned it and added what I've already said here about the pottery.

How did she respond?

She didn't say anything.