She came to therapy through her employee assistance program for help with parenting. And although her concerns about her parenting were real, Lisa's pain was much deeper and darker than she realized. After we talked round and round about her daughter, I realized that we really were talking about Lisa herself. She talked about her daughter's anxiety and depression, yet her daughter was well-adjusted at school, had hit all of her developmental milestones and had plenty of friends. Her punishment was to pay steep fines, hefty attorney fees and live with an uncontrollable urge to steal, kleptomania.
Psychoanalysts get six to eight years of classroom and clinical post-doctoral training.
He says that people who take things they don't need could be looking for something they didn't get in their childhood and are trying to soothe some unidentified pain. But, understanding the past is, with as much insight as possible. It can help free a person to take responsibility and make better choices in their lives and their relationships. Lisa admits that she was addicted to the game of stealing. Before I stole something, my heart rate would go up.