The Toolbox at LisaKiftTherapy.com

Perched on the edge of the couch in my office, a recent client asked me tentatively, “Do people really lie on the couch?”  His question reminded me of one of the cliches of psychotherapy – the image of a bespeckled older male psychiatrist,  sitting out of view of his patient who is laying on the therapy couch.  Taken from the days of traditional psychoanalysis and as sort of silly as that might seem now, the laying-on-the-couch part isn’t so strange.

I’ve had a number of individual therapy clients lay on my couch while in session.  A few have taken their shoes off and made themselves very comfortable.  Personally, I have no problem with this, in fact, it’s my hope that people can be as comfortable as they can be in order to get to the business of psychotherapy.  If laying on the couch with their feet up is helpful – so be it!

I had a therapist once a long time ago with whom I felt comfortable enough to lay on the couch with.  I found the experience very relaxing.  I highly recommend it.

If you’re in individual therapy and have found yourselves furtively glancing at the soft squishy pillows on the therapist’s couch, perhaps wondering what if would be like to lie on them, the chances are pretty good that your therapist would be more than open to that possiblity.  At least I know I would be. 

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See more therapy and counseling articles by psychotherapist, Lisa Brookes Kift,  in The Toolbox at LisaKiftTherapy.com, a resource for Emotional and Relationship Health.

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