Sex Rehab: Kendra’s Issues With Kari Ann

November 28, 2009 by Lynn

Here’s a very short excerpt from an interview with licensed clinical therapist Jill Vermeire where she dicusses the reasons that Kendra feels resentment toward Kari Ann on Sex Rehab. Personally, I think Kendra has a valid point. I’d be upset with Kari Ann’s behavior too. But the problem is that it might be interfering with Kendra’s recovery.

It’s tough enough to face difficult issues, but to have someone so obviously taking advantage of others in the situation just makes everything worse for everyone. Here’s what Jill has to say:

Do you have any thoughts on Kendra refusing to participate in group because Kari-Ann was there?

Jill: Kendra had shut down at this point. I really think what was going on was that she grew up in a very chaotic environment. Her mother was very unstable, and I think Kari-Ann really brought up a lot of that for her. I think Kari-Ann really represented specifically her mother, but probably some other women in her life that were unstable and not safe. And Kendra learned to deal with it growing up by shutting off the feelings, shutting down and putting up the wall and becoming very guarded. Through this, we got to see how Kendra dealt with it in her past, and how she currently deals with it. That’s the awesome thing about the group treatment process: when you have a lot of people, each individual person will remind somebody of something else in their life, or someone else from their life. So it’s going to trigger old behaviors and defense mechanisms and survival techniques. And then we get to really see what happens out in the world for this person.

Be sure to go read the entire interview here. Visit Jill’s web site. Follow Jill on Twitter.