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Prepared by Ayesha Yousafzai
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9/26/2014
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Field Note 1: Choking Scene (37:25-41:52)
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Setting: The Scene takes place in an office. Will walks in using a frosted glass door. On either
side of the door is a three-fourths height-frosted glass wall. You can see the stairs on the other
side of the frosted wall. There are a number of color full papers taped on either side of the door.
There is a coat hanger by the door, with a few pieces of clothing hanging on it. The office seems
really cluttered with papers: on the two desks on either sides of the room, on the walls and the
coffee table. The room has multiple bookshelves over flowing with books. There is a desktop
computer on one of the desks and three chairs in the room. There are a few plants by the
window, and multiple lamps around the room and a floor lamp. There is natural lighting coming
through the two windows on the opposite side of the door.
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Incident # 1 Introductions
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Will walks into the room through the frosted door, wearing a grey t-shirt with a few abstract lines
on the front of the t-shirt and khaki’s. Will seems to be in his early twenties. He immediately
plops himself on the chair close to the door. There are three people in the room including Sean
(probably in early fifties), standing and watching him as he sits down. Two men (Tom and Jerry)
are wearing black clothes where as Sean is wearing a faded yellowish polo with black pants.
Will upon sitting down announces, “Lets get started” “ I am pumped” and in a sarcastic tone
says, “ let the healing begin” as he claps his hands together. Sean continues to stand with both
his hands in his pockets, while Tom sits down on the chair facing Will and Jerry kneels against
one of the desks. Sean asks the two men to leave by politely nodding his head and saying “will
you excuse us”. Tom walks out while Jerry and Sean exchange a look before he walks out. In
the mean time, Will observes the two men walk out of the room. Sean sits down and asks Will
how he is and where he is from. Will, not acknowledging Sean’s questions, looks around the
room instead of answering Sean, says, “I like what you have done with this place”. Sean thanks
him politely.
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Incident # 2 Books
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Sean continues to ask about the books by pointing to both the shelves on the left and right side of
them. Asking him if he had read any of them. Dis interested, Will continues to engage in the
conversation and finally he says yes to reading the ones on the top shelf on the left. Will fidgets
with his pockets and take the pack of cigarettes out. When Sean asks him what he thinks of the
books, Will replies, “they are your books why don’t you read them”. They talk about how long
it must have taken Sean to read the books. Will gets up and starts walking around the room. He
walks towards one of the shelves and acknowledges the “United States of History Volume 1”.
He then looks at the picture frame on top of the shelf surrounded by other books. There are four
men wearing army gear in the picture in the frame. He looks away, putting a cigarette in his
I believe that in a therapy session, the therapist allows the patient to take their time in sharing
information and that the therapist actively listens and shows a level higher level of patience. I
further believe that, if the therapists body language is disengaging and it comes across as he/she
is not interested, that can be counter productive to a therapy session.
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mouth and makes a comment about reading a real history book and they engage in talking about
a few authors. Will makes a comment, while continuing to walk around “you fucking people
baffle me, fucking spending so much money on these fancy books ” and that you surround
yourselves with the wrong books. Will continues to walk around the room looking at the books
and smoking the cigarette. Sean, asks what the right fucking books are and gets slightly annoyed
and makes a comment to Will about him being better off if she shoved the cigarette up his ass as
it will be healthier for him. Will sarcastically replies, “yeah, it gets in he way of my yoga”, as he
exhales out.
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Incident # 3 Working Out
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Sean asks Will if he works out. Instead of replying back, he asks Sean if he lifts weights. They
briefly converse about free lifts. Will asks Sean what he benches, as he continues to smoke and
takes a seat back at the chair. Sean replies 285 and will ignores his answer and gets up from the
chair looking at a painting.
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Incident # 4 Painting
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Will walks towards the painting on the window and asks Sean if he painted that, Sean replied
“yes”. Sean asks him a few questions about his interest in painting, sculpting, art or music. Will
ignores the questions, turns to face Sean and replies by saying that the painting “is a piece of
shit”. Sean gets up from his chair and walks towards Will who turns back around and continues
to observe the painting. They both go back and forth talking about the painting, Will continues to
criticize the painting and in a sarcastic tone Sean comments that it is paint by numbers. They
continue to discuss the colors of the painting while Sean jokes about moving to France.
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Incident # 5 Any Port in a Storm
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Will continues to look at the painting, and he turns back around to face Sean and asks if he’s ever
heard the saying “Any port in a storm.” Sean says “yes.” Will adds “Maybe that’s you.” Sean
replies “In what way?” Will then compares Sean to the painting saying, “ Maybe you are in the
middle of a big fucking storm”. He compares Sean’s life to that what is portrayed in the painting
(sky falling, waves are crashing on the boat) and saying that maybe that’s the reason why he
became a psychologist. Sean carefully listens, taps Will on the shoulder and says, “Bingo, let me
do my job now, come with me”, as he walks back toward the chairs to sit down. Will continues
to stand by the painting adding, after a brief pause he says, “Maybe you married the wrong
woman”. Sean aggressively replies, “Maybe you should watch your mouth” and asks him to
“watch it”. Will looks back at the painting and says “Well that’s it isn’t it? You married the
wrong woman? What happened? What, did she leave you? Was she, you know, bang some other
guy?” Sean, removes his glasses, he starts to lose his temper, rushes towards Will and grabs him
by the throat. Sean tells Will “If you ever disrespect my wife again, I will end you, I will
fucking end you. Got that, chief?” Will looking right at Sean replies “Times up.” They both look
at each other for a second; Sean lets go of Will’s throat, and Will slowly walks around Sean and
out of the office as Sean continues to look at the painting.
I believe that in a therapy session, the therapist allows the patient to take their time in sharing
information and that the therapist actively listens and shows a level higher level of patience. I
further believe that, if the therapists body language is disengaging and it comes across as he/she
is not interested, that can be counter productive to a therapy session.
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Prepared by: Ayesha Yousafzai
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09/28/2014
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Field Note #2: Silence (52:45-53:25)
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Setting: This scene begins with Will sitting in Sean’s office. It takes place at Sean’s office. The
office looks small and very cluttered, especially with books. Three bookshelves can be seen in
this scene, as well as a desk with a lot of books on top. The desk looks so cluttered that
apparently there is no additional space to work. In the scene, there is also a coffee maker and two
chairs. The overall office looks dated and the lights are yellow. In one of the walls of the office,
there is a clock. This time for this scene is approximately 4:17 pm. Will is wearing old
brownish/greenish pants with white stains, as well as brown t-shirt and a dark brown blazer. His
overall appearance is not very clean. The chair he is sitting on is angled between two book
shelved behind him. Sean is wearing a green polo t-shirt with blazer in green and brown colors.
In this scene, Sean is not wearing his glasses.
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Incident #1 – No Smoking.
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As the scene starts, we see Will in the brown chair facing Sean, who is in another chair. His
crossed hands are resting in his belly. Will is sitting with both his elbows resting on the
armrests. He is not sitting upright. His back and head are resting on the back of the chair. They
are not making eye contact and Will seems inattentive to Sean. They are not really far from each
other. Will gets a pack of cigarettes from his pants pocket and puts it in his mouth. As he does
this, Sean tell him “No Smoking.” Will reluctantly takes the cigarette out of his mouth and put it
back in the pack. He then puts the cigarette pack back to his pocket and crosses his hands again.
During this scene Will did not look at Sean at all.
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Incident #2 – No direct eye contact.
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As Will puts the pack in his pocket and crosses his hands, he seems disinterested and with his
head resting back on the chair. He continues to stares at the ceiling of the office in several
directions, very inattentive of Sean. He does not look at Sean at any moment. Sean is looking at
Will very carefully for a couple of seconds. They do not make any direct eye contact during this
period of time.
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Incident #3 - The clock and time passing.
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After Sean observes Will for a short period of time, he looks at the clock that is on the wall. It is
4:17. The seconds-hand of this clock is one of those that seem to move faster. He then looks down in
a different direction and Will starts playing with his hands; he is thumbs are touching each other in
a repeated sequence of movements. Will’s hands are interlocked and as time continues to pass, he
continues to taps his thumbs together. Time has passed because now it is 4:56. Sean continues looking
at the clock and then to a point down. At the end of the scene Will has a smirk on his face as he looks
at Sean.
I believe that in a therapy session, the therapist allows the patient to take their time in sharing
information and that the therapist actively listens and shows a level higher level of patience. I
further believe that, if the therapists body language is disengaging and it comes across as he/she
is not interested, that can be counter productive to a therapy session.
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Prepared by Ayesha Yousafzai
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10/06/2014
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Field Note #3: Pilot Joke (54:33-58:58)
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Setting: This scene takes place at Sean’s office. Nothing seems to have changed from the last scene.
However, in this scene, it is possible to see that there is another shelf by the window with books. Sean’s
desk continues to be cluttered with no evident space for work. Sean is wearing a sky blue shirt with a
green jacket and green pants. Sean and Will are sat one in front of the other. Will is wearing khakis with
white stains (probably the ones he had worn before) and a jersey with the number 15 and a gray jacket.
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Incident #1. Breaking the Silence: When the scene starts, Sean is sitting on a chair with legs crossed and
playing with his hands, while whistling [it seems that he is bored or waiting for time to pass] As Sean is
doing this, Will is looking everywhere in the office, including looking at Sean [it seems he does not know
what to do]. Suddenly, Sean starts falling asleep. As soon as his closed his eyes and his head moved
down, Will started to talk.
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Incident #2. Joking about incident in the airplane. When Will starts to talk, Sean abruptly
wakes up. Sean now has his legs extended and his feet are on the coffee table between him and
Will. Sean crosses his hands and puts them by his belly. They have direct eye contact. Will starts
sharing a story that took place in a plane. As he is sharing this story, Sean looks at him [Sean
does not seem to be too interested]. Will continues sharing his story about a pilot who forgot to
turned off his microphone and was making some sexual jokes, so the whole cabin heard that. As
Will is saying this, he uses his hands to illustrate some remarks of the joke. When Will is done
sharing the joke, Sean laughs [his laugh did not sound authentic; it seems he did as courtesy].
Sean asks Will if he had ever been on a place; Will replies “No, but it's a fuckin' joke. It works
better if I tell it in the first person.” Sean agrees with Will with a smile.
I believe that in a therapy session, the therapist allows the patient to take their time in sharing
information and that the therapist actively listens and shows a level higher level of patience. I
further believe that, if the therapists body language is disengaging and it comes across as he/she
is not interested, that can be counter productive to a therapy session.
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Incident #3. Will’s new girl. After a short silence, Will tells Sean with a smirk “I have been
laid, you know.” With a smirk, Sean replies: “Really? Good for you” and looks down. [It seems
that Will is bragging about it]. Will continues and tells Sean that he went
on a date last week. Sean asks Will how did it go; Will replies that it was good. Sean asks him
they are going out again and Will says he does not know. Sean asks why and Will said that he
had not called her. Sean says, “Christ, you are an amateur.” Will says that he knows what he is
doing. With a [sarcastic] smile Sean asks him “Oh yeah?” Will tells Sean with a smile not to
worry about him because he knows what he is doing. Will continues saying that this girl is
“beautiful. She's smart. She's funny. She's different from most of the girls I've been with.” [Sean
sounds serious when he says this]. Sean asks him why will not call her then. Will tells him that
things are perfect with her and that he does not want to ruin them by getting to know her better.
Sean tells Will that that’s “a super philosophy” and in that way Will is going to get through his
entire life without really knowing anybody. As Sean says these words, Will becomes reflective.
I believe that in a therapy session, the therapist allows the patient to take their time in sharing
information and that the therapist actively listens and shows a level higher level of patience. I
further believe that, if the therapists body language is disengaging and it comes across as he/she
is not interested, that can be counter productive to a therapy session.
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Incident #4. Sean’s wife: Right after this, Sean tells Will that his wife used to fart while she was
sleeping and that she had “all sorts of wonderful idiosyncrasies.” Both start to laugh as Sean
shares this story. Sean puts his hand on his cheek as he tells this story. Sean tells Will that once
his wife woke herself up after she had farted. They both start to laugh harder with this story.
Sean and Will become serious as Sean tells Will that after two years of her death, those are the
imperfections that he misses the most about her. Sean recognizes that those idiosyncrasies made
her his wife and that he had some “peccadillos” too. Sean tells Will that people call these things
imperfections, but that actually those things are “the good stuff.” Will becomes thoughtful with
Sean’s words. Will tells Sean that neither Sean nor this girl is perfect but the thing is if both are
perfect for each other. Will continues to be serious and reflecting on Sean’s words. Sean tells
Will that the only way he will know if they are perfect for each other is “giving it a shot.” Sean
recognizes that Will won’t learn this things from “an old fucker” like him and that even if he
knew, he would not tell a “piss ant” like him. Will, laughing and with his arms behind his head,
asks Sean why he would not tell him if he tells him everything else and
that he talks more than any other shrink that he has ever seen in his life.
Incident #5. Getting Remarried. After a short silence, Will crosses his hands and becomes
serious and asks Sean if he had ever thought about getting remarried. Without looking at Will,
Sean says that his wife is dead. Will tells Sean that that’s why he used the word “remarried.”
With a smirk, Sean looks at Will and tells him “she is dead.” Making direct eye contact, Will
tells Sean with a smirk [with sarcasm] that he thinks “that’s a super philosophy” and “that way
you could actually go through the rest of your life without ever really knowing anybody” [Will
uses Sean’s previous remarks with sarcasm]. Sean smiles after Will’s comment and then looks at
the clock on the wall and tells him that “time is up.” Will looks at the clock and the stands up and
leaves without saying anything else.
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Bracketing Memo: In this scene you finally see that Will and Sean are connecting. First they use
humor to break the ice then through sharing personal experiences. It is interesting to see how
Will’s expressions change when he finds out that Sean’s wife passed away. I wonder if at that
time he is thinking about their first meeting when he made off hand comments about Sean’s wife.
Regardless, Will body language seems more relaxed and that discomfort that was visible in the
first few scenes is not there. Will still uses sarcasm when he responds but it does not come
across as rude
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I believe that in a therapy session, the therapist allows the patient to take their time in sharing
information and that the therapist actively listens and shows a level higher level of patience. I
further believe that, if the therapists body language is disengaging and it comes across as he/she
is not interested, that can be counter productive to a therapy session.
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Field Note # 4 (01:03:06-1:06:15)
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Setting: The Scene starts with Will and Sean sitting in Sean’s office. There is a brown patterned
rug in the middle of the room with four sofa chairs facing each other and the rug is clean. The
chairs are perfectly angled on each of the corners of the rug, facing one another. In the Center of
the rug is a dark brown coffee table. There are several multicolored books on the table and a soda
cups with a straw in it. Sean and Will are sitting on 2 chairs on the left side of the rug. Across
from Sean is a yellow fabric sofa chair with a matching (patterned) pillow cushion. Right behind
that is the yellow chair is another, smaller brown leather chair. Across from Will is a light brown
leather chair. Behind Sean, on the left side is a desk with a telephone and a number of books and
papers on it and on the right side is a bookshelf full of books. Behind Will is another desk will
papers and books on it. Sean is sitting up right on his chair with both his arms resting on the
armrests and he is wearing a blue shirt with a green cardigan. Will is wearing khaki pants with a
blue jacket with two horizontal stripes across the chest and arms, he has one foot resting on the
floor while the right foot is resting on the round coffee table. There is some sunlight coming into
the room from the window behind Sean and it is creating some shadows on the floor behind him.
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Incident # 1 Read your book
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The scene begins with Will telling Sean that he read his book last night. Sean briefly pauses and
says “Oh! You are the one”. Will replies back with a laugh and asks “Do you still council
Veterans”. Sean is sitting with his left leg crossed over and fingers interlocked. He [shakes his
head] replies that he does not and that he gave it up when his wife got sick.
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Incident # 2 Sean’s Wife
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Will [while looking at Sean and then backs at his hands] asks “You wonder what your life will
be like if you a, if you never met your wife”. Sean asks, “Wonder is I would be better off with
out her?” Will [moving his hands in front of him as he talks] clarifies that “ No no no, I don’t
mean better off, I didn’t mean it like that”. Sean says it’s all right and that it is an important
question [he is observing Will as he talks, Will is sitting up right and facing him as he talks, I
wonder if he is saying that just to make him feel at ease]. He says, “ you will have bad times but
it will always wake you up to the good times you were not paying attention to”. Will asks if he
regrets meeting his wife and Sean asks, “ why cuz of the pain, Oh! I got regrets Will! But I don’t
regret a single day I spend with her.” Will listens carefully, [his head is slightly bowed down].
Will [looking at Sean] asks him “so when did you know that she was the one for you?” Sean
replies with the exact date that he met her. Will [shifts in his seat, his left arm is on the back of
the seat-slightly lifted up, with a smile on his face and excitement in his tone, now facing Sean]
says, “ Jesus Christ, you know the fucking date”.
I believe that in a therapy session, the therapist allows the patient to take their time in sharing
information and that the therapist actively listens and shows a level higher level of patience. I
further believe that, if the therapists body language is disengaging and it comes across as he/she
is not interested, that can be counter productive to a therapy session.
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Incident # 3 Red socks game
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Sean replies back and tell him he remembers where he was, “ it was the game six of the world
series, biggest game in the Red Socks history”. He tells Will that he and his friends slept on the
side walks the whole night so he could get tickets to the game. Will [slightly jumps up in his seat,
in a excited tone questions Sean], “ you got tickets!” Sean [while looking at Will] continues to
tell him that he was waiting for the game while sitting at a bar and he says, “ And in walks this
girl, it was an amazing game though!” Sean begins to tell him the details of the final play of the
game about Carlton Fisk. Sean [gets up from his chair, his voice rises and demonstrates the
batting motion, imitating Carlton Fisk] and says, “ he clocks it, high high ball on the left field
line 35 thousand people on their feet yelling at the ball” [Sean will hands moving every where].
He continues to explain the game how the final shot cost them the victory and moves around.
Will gets up from his chair and both begin to demonstrate the running motion of Fisk. Sean
bumps in to Will to show him further.
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Incident # 4 Missed the World Series
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Will [screams in excitement with his hands in the air, while both men are standing and facing
each other] and asks, “I can’t fucking believe, you had tickets to that fucking game! Did you
rush the fucking field?” Sean [calmly] replies, “ No I didn’t rush the fucking field. I wasn’t
there”. The expression on Wills face changes [he is almost shocked] as says, “what”. Sean [with
his hands in his pockets] tell him that he missed it because he was at the bar having a drink with
his future wife. Will replies back with, “ You missed Fisk’s home run to have a fucking drink
with some lady you have never met?” Sean [gently rubs his face then shakes his head from left to
right] and adds, “oh no no, but you should have seen her, she was a fucking stunner, she lit up
the room. Will [in a loud voice and his arms moving up and down] says, “I don’t care if it was
Helen of Troy walks into the room. Its game six, Oh My God! And who where these fucking
friends of yours, they let you get away with that?” Sean tells him, “they had to, he slid his ticket
across the table and said sorry guys I gotta see about a girl”. Will [giggles loudly and repeats in a
sarcastic loud tone], “ I gotta see about a girl? That what you said”. Sean says “ YES”. Will
replies, “ and they let you get away with that?” Sean [while nodding his head, in a calm tone,
while looking at Will] adds, “ Oh yeah they saw in my eyes and I meant it”. Will [in disbelief]
“you are kidding me”. Sean [gently looks down] and says “ no I am not kidding you Will, that’s
why I am not talking about some girl I saw at a bar 20 years ago, and how I will always regret it
not going over and talking to her. [Slight pause] I don’t regret the eighteen years I was married to
Nancy; I don’t regret the six years I had to give up counseling when she was sick and I don’t
regret the last years when she got really sick and I sure as hell don’t regret missing the last
game”. Sean [paces a little before he sits down back in his chair and in a low voice] adds,
“that’s regret”. Will [shakes his head, while looking down and sits on the arm rest of the chair
across from Sean] and says, “WOW!” Will adds [his tone of voice changes], “It would have been
nice to catch that game though”. Sean says, “ I did not know Fisk was going to hit a home run.”
The scene concludes with both Will and Sean laughing.
I believe that in a therapy session, the therapist allows the patient to take their time in sharing
information and that the therapist actively listens and shows a level higher level of patience. I
further believe that, if the therapists body language is disengaging and it comes across as he/she
is not interested, that can be counter productive to a therapy session.
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I believe that in a therapy session, the therapist allows the patient to take their time in sharing
information and that the therapist actively listens and shows a level higher level of patience. I
further believe that, if the therapists body language is disengaging and it comes across as he/she
is not interested, that can be counter productive to a therapy session.