Susan was bitten by Ellen’s new dog and everything changed. Ellen and Susan were best friends, living two houses apart in their neighborhood. Practically every day one or the other would visit the other. When Susan visited, Ellen’s two little mixed breed dogs would excitedly greet her at the door for pats and hugs. But this particular day, Ellen had added a new little dog, a rescue dog and it bit Susan on the hand, then the arm and next the foot. All three injuries had to be treated medically and stitched up. Ellen was horrified and immediately returned the rescue dog.
Susan would no longer visit Ellen. She knew it was an irrational fear for she had visited Ellen so many times before when the rescue dog was not present. Was it irrational fear? In my professional opinion, I say not. The fear had always been there and it took an incident like this to bring it out.
So what is Susan to do? Must she give up a long term friendship by being afraid to visit Ellen in her home? Most likely Susan will ask the Internet what to do and the answers will be for her to find the triggers that might have caused the incident. Good advice if Susan were able to find the triggers. Like most people, Susan will not be able to find the trigger or know what to do when she does.
This is a real problem and has caused many a friendship to breakup. What would I do if I were Susan? I would hire a professional counselor such as myself who knows how to find such triggers. Susan might be able to discover the cause in one session with me and eradicate the problem.
CounselingServicesAtlanta.com 404-487-1956
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