"Tell Me Your Personal Strengths..."

[hippiechild]

So... I've started going to therapy, for whatever reason, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. The therapist ended the last session by asking me to think about my "strengths" while I was home. He wanted to discuss them with me during our next meeting...

I'm sure that many of you have had similar experiences, it's a pretty good way of getting to know the "patient." I wondered if anyone could give me some guidance on this... I'm not sure that I even know my own strengths or the sorts of things that would be useful to him.

If anyone could share their own strengths or offer suggestions, that would be great



P.S. It's a joy and honor to speak with you again, friends of the Social Phobia World!

 

[Psychedelicious]

I have a huge problem with these questions either, it's like I just have no idea what to say. It's not that I know what to say and don't want to. It's that I have no idea in the first place. I can't think of anything either, but I understand the problems you have with these type of questions. I'm not sure what to tell you though. You can always say you're a hippie. I view that as a strength .

 

[Reholla]

This is actually easy for me.. a lot of that is because for a class we had to take a test that showed us our strengths, so i know them off the top of my head.

It said my strengths were:
Adaptability, Empathy, Positivity, Developer, Ideation.


Now as far as talking to people about them, thats not so easy. But i dont think its supposed to be. Anyway how many times do people come up to you and ask what personal strengths do you encompass?? Hardly ever. The only time i had to talk about it was for that class, and we had to give a presentation over it. That wasnt awkward bc everyone did it..

I think it is a really good thing to know how to do, also its really good you are going to therapy. I have gone for a few months now and I really like my therapist. Hes one of my favorite people.

 

[Slothrop]

It may help to rephrase the question as "What have you ever felt good about yourself for?"

Nobody naturally thinks in terms of "personal strengths", but we all have experiences and we've all felt good about ourselves for something at some point. You just have to find the common threads in your experience. I've found that my friends often come to me when they are upset and need to talk to somebody, because apparently I'm a good listener and can sometimes have good advice. I never set out to be good at this, and wouldn't have known it if it hasn't become a recurring situation in my life. Now that I know it's a strength of mine, I try to make the most of it.

 

[hippiechild]

YES, psychedelicious! That is pretty much exactly how I feel. I've basically resorted to asking people what they think... although I'm fairly sure that I'm good at listening and understanding people. hahaha I should mention being a hippie :wink:

Slothrop, thank you for the suggestion. I'll spend some time relaxing and thinking about what I'm proud of myself for

Reholla, you definitely sound like you know what you're talking about. Thank you for listing some of your own strengths. While interesting to know, it also has helped me to see what my therapist means by "strengths"

Thank you!

 

[Reholla]

That is very good to hear, Hippiechild!
I think its such a good thing to know. I mean i learned them from my class, but looking back on it, i am really glad i learned what they were. Let us know what you find out w/ your therapist/ about ur strengths =)

 

[biotech56]

My greatest strength is playing racquetball and squash. Does anyone else play that?

 

[recluse]

I'm not a braggart but i do know that;

I'm compassionate, caring, trustworthy, loving, modest.

My therapist also told me to focus on my strengths.

 

[JonnyD]

nice thing you said it, maybe me and others in doubt of theraphy can get a bit of how it tastes with this topic

I've done it a couple of times , not for therapy, but i know it can be hard! my best advice is not to minimize you strenght, when i'm looking to myself and pointing my strenghts i generally minimize. I usually say "i'm a bit gentle" or "sometimes i'm a good listener" , it's wrong the right thing to say is "i'm gentle" and "i'm a good listener" - it's not being modest it's being self destructive. Hope i made my point

Now i'm going to the weird part: making it work, i would love to know why i feel so weird pointing my own personal strengths

I'm intelligent , interested , helpful , caring , gentle and creative... and when i'm not in an anxiety situation i'm very very calm.