The Po Show

What Would Pikachu Do?

Well, not actually Pikachu, but some other, very level-headed Pokemon.

I sat in with Matthew during his weekly therapy session yesterday, which was a nice development. For a year and a half now he has not wanted me to be in the room during his sessions, since he HATES to hear people talk about him. Plus I always had Tessa along, so we would just sit in the waiting room. Last week, though, was our emergency session, and Ross came home from work so he could sit in. I sat in too, and Tessa willingly waited by herself outside. After a bit her "friends" showed up to keep her company (some girls who attend an OCD group that starts after our session, and Tessa the social butterfly made friends with a couple of them, weeks ago, even though they're all several years older). Yesterday she was by herself the whole time, but she handled it well.

So last week the therapist had tried to get Matthew to think of someone he admired, that he thought of as a role model, and he couldn't. I guess she puzzled over it during the week, and came up with the idea of asking him if there were any Pokemon characters who had traits that he admired. (Yes, she's really brilliant. I guess she's earning her $175 an hour.) She asked if there were any Pokemon who were good at controlling their emotions, who were patient, who were kind. She had printed up some Pokemon pics from off the net, and asked if they were good examples of Pokemon who might be role models.

Matthew's so funny: he told her after awhile, "Well, I didn't want to say this, because I didn't want to embarrass you, but several of the Pokemon you downloaded are the most destructive Pokemon in the entire universe!" She hurriedly said that then those were NOT the Pokemon we should think of as role models. She asked him if he could go online at home and print up some pictures of Pokemon who WERE good role models, who had some characteristics that Matthew might find useful. She gave him some index cards to glue them to, and we'll use them next week. And she said she would immediately recycle the destructive Pokemon she had printed out, because we don't want to use their kind.

I ran with the idea, and said that many Pokemon have trouble controlling their powers, but they TRAIN to learn to control themselves. They work hard, and their trainers help them, and together they learn to make the most of their powers and go on to win tournaments. Yeah, I'm pretty fricking brilliant too.

So this was the most positive turn in therapy in a long time. If we can help him learn to stop, ask himself what Slowbro would do in this situation, and not immediately lash out, that will be a wonderful, wonderful thing.