I'm glad this wasn't my first experience with psychotherapy or I would have really run for the hills and never tried another therapist. Dr Goonan...he is an alpha male who seems to really like the sound of his own voice. While he did offer some suggestions that were helpful, he treated me like a child. I felt really uncomfortable. Dictated to. I would ask a question and he would go off on a tangent about something else and never give me an answer. No matter what I said, there was no support, it was always how I could do better or what I did wrong. He seemed to have a very narrow scope of what is "right" and what is "wrong". Just the way he sits high up in a chair feet over where you sit sets the scene. It wasn't about a therapeutic relationship, it was about imparting his ideas onto you to go forth and perfect. I forced myself to go to several sessions accusing myself of resistance. Until finally I realized...its him not me.
Dr Goonan might be the right therapist for people looking for dictation instead of connection. Rules instead of collaboration. It wasn't a total loss. I learned some new skills that were helpful. But beyond that, he was not for me...at all. read more