Indecision About Own Problem

© Helen Lesser 2008

Question:– I wonder if you could help me on something. A new client said in the first session that his problem was sexual and that he was having problems with getting and also keeping an erection. During that first session he then said that the real problem was “self doubt”. When he came for the second session he said he’d been thinking about it and “self doubt” didn’t feel right and he thought the problem was actually “lack of confidence”. I assured him all the time that it didn’t really matter what the problem was called – as long as we both understood what we meant by that label, however, we ended up agreeing on “lack of confidence”.

Do you think he was just doubting himself all the time and that I should have stuck to with “difficulties getting and maintaining an erection” which is what he is most concerned about?

In this situation I would ask him what the main symptom with the ‘self doubt’ or ‘lack of confidence’ was – perhaps he’s trying to be