Dr Yalmon's Theory Of Equality

Dr. Yalmon wants to treat Marge as his equal but it’s difficult treating someone as your equal when you are “treating” them as a patient. He says, “The very word treat implies non-equality” (224). And this is where the “internal inconsistencies” come in, it’s difficult to treat someone as your equal when you are in fact unequal in status. As he says “… One is distresses and often bewildered, while the other is expected to use professional skills to disentangle and examine objectively issues that lie behind that distress and bewilderment” (224). The therapist is placed in the role of almost a parent and the patient is placed in almost the role of a child. Dr. Yamon states that although it seems impossible to be equals in the “therapeutic setting” that the most accurate way to describe to therapy is to treat “the patient as an adult” (224). As viewing each other as equal in the sense that both the

Yamon is in love with idea of “Me.” He views “Me” as an equal in a sense, he says that “This woman, this “Me,” she understood me” (228). She is everything that Marge isn’t “beautiful and intriguing” (228) which is why “Me” appeals so much to Dr. Yamon. However, “Me” is also “… lethalthe incarnational of all Marge’s rage and self-hatred” (228). “Me” is a manifestation of all of Marge’s issues, she represents everything Marge not only hates but also fear such as the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father (227). The “Me” gave Dr. Yamon a look into Marge’s traumas, a look into her “deep emotions” about not only herself but also about her situation. This is why he is reluctant to part with “Me” because “Me” is to Dr. Yamon a “…real woman” (228) not broken like Marge. It was interesting to see how Dr. Yamon was seduced by “Me.” He became so wrapped up in the “Me” persona that he almost forgot about Marge his patient. His mistake from the beginning is that he chose to engage with “Me” allow her to amuse him which puts his patients mental well-being at