Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-05-17
ADVICE
Marriage 'CounseIing
Available Here for SIS

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Continued From First Page
overstuffed furniture. saying it
was Just temporary. that he
hadn't brought in his good fur
niture yet.
Settling himself on a sofa.
he opened a loose-leaf notebook
and began:
Nov would you like to tell
me about 1t or should / ask
you questions2"
II don't know where to be-
GIN" ! began in a respondent
voice. II just know I'm un-
happy and I cry q lot. If some
thing is wrong. maybe it's my
fault. You ask the questions. |"
He asked my name. address,
age, II my husband or I had
any religious affiliations, If we
had any children, how long we
had been married.
! demurred at giving him my
telephone number, saying my
husband didn't know about this
and I wouldn't want to be called
at home. I told him we had
been married six years, had no
children and didn't go to
church.
Then, he shot out: "What
gave you the most pleasure in
the last month";"
Startled at this gambit but
clinging to my role of the de-
pressed woman, I replied, "oh,
I don't know nothing !
guess"
Something must have given
you pleasure" he persisted.
II got some new Clothes" ]
replied, feeling pressed. Il
guess that pleased me-"
Satisfied, he said approx
ingly. Eyes. that always pleases
a woman. Now, what pleased
you least in the last month";"
Well" I said doubtfully,
'my husband and I argued a
lot. That didn't please me-"
Ready to ImprOvise
I was ready to improvise an
argument, but he didn't ask
me. Instead, he wanted to
know my husbands occupa-
ton.
do you drive a carr" he
asked me next.
When said I didn't and
never had. he took more notes
than at any time before or
later in the interview.
DO you have a job?"
Now ] spotted a chance to
get in some of my lease his
tory"
II had a job" I told him,
but ! quit because / couldn't
write any more my hand
writing particularly when
people were around"
He wanted to know when /
had quit work, when the hand
writing began to bother me, if
1t had ever happened before. I
told him ! had had the same
difficulty when I was IS. /
thought it was because I was
studying too hard.
Dificulty DISAPPEARED
'What did you do about it?"
II quit school and rested.
Finally. It went away and I
went back to school,"
In the pause that followed,
I asked. do you think you
can help me?"
WELL" he replied, II sure
hope to. I don't know if you've
been to a doctor. but he could
tell you If there's anything
wrong with your glands or di-
gestion or things like that.
1.-THE other approach is what
we do-counseling. It may be
that your inability to write will
clear up when we have talked
things over. You would come
in every day for a while and
get a sort of personality course.
We could discuss books and
movies and you could identify
yourself with somebody and
their problems in the book and
we could talk about that. We
could go back and find out
about your life history-sort
OF psychoanalysis. but not ex-
actly."
Should / Get Divorce?
do you think I should d.
vorce my husband?" asked.
DO you want TOP"
II don't know. I'm so de-
pressed and unhappy"
Have you spoken to your
husband about it?"
He spoke to me. He asked
me If ! wanted a divorce"
Instead of asking me what /
had replied. he said:
I'm not going to advise you
on that. ! wouldn't unless your
husband was beating you up
and 1t was a matter of your
safety. You have to make your
own decision. If / told you 10
get a divorce and you found
you were still lonely, you'd
blame me. But, you know, it
might be like jumping out OF
the frying pan into the fire."
When he paused, I threw out
another hook.
Suicide Plan Hinted
Sometimes" I murmured,
my eyes downcast, II feel so
depressed. I think I'll jump off
q bridge"
I'VE all feel that way some
times" he replied hastily. "I've
felt it myself. But then, I think
I'll leave somebody with q
heartache and I don't know if
I'll be happier where I'm going.
MIMI IN MMF