Alternative to conventional talking therapies?

[Marvel545]

I've been to 5 different therapists in the past 6 years & I really struggle to trust them or get anything out of the sessions.

My distrust for people in the medical field goes back years & I think it's actually part of my trauma.

My Mom died whilst she was on the waiting list for an operation & since then I've been extremely skeptical of anything medical. I actually need a minor operation, but I don't want to go for it out of fear.

Thats getting off topic.

Does anyone have experience with alternative therapies that aren't like the typical sitting down & talking for 1 hour a week? I'm willing to try anything at this point. Am I the problem? Or have I just not found the right therapist yet?

 

[ILoveLife]

I had a big resistance in therapy. I found being open about it helped a lot.
I told my T "look, I'm terrified of actually getting better more than I am of facing the issues. Depression is comfortable and I'm used to neglecting my needs" so we started from there.
She actually did something, we both have control over the sessions. Like, if I don't want to go somewhere I can just say so. She respects it. I babbled about my worst traumas right there on the first session. Lol :confused:
But I'm still not sure if we clicked.

Alternative therapies, maybe emdr?

 

[Mach123]

Unfortunately most "alternatives" are not mainstream enough to be covered by insurance, especially my "state" insurance. I have not been able to explore much beyond an hour on the couch a week. I think it works though at least for me but, finding a therapist it works with can be terribly hard.

 

[Marvel545]

Alternative therapies, maybe emdr?

I've done a quick google search & found a few people who do it near me. Gonna get in touch with them.

I think your right about being open, I am overly nice & feel like I should look after my therapist when my honest view is that I don't trust them. Did you do a lot of research/ reading prior to going into therapy?

Unfortunately most "alternatives" are not mainstream enough to be covered by insurance, especially my "state" insurance

Sorry to hear that, I pay out of pocket for my therapy & I can't help but feel like a meal ticket for them. My old T looked like he was falling asleep sometimes. I'm beginning to think it is a journey in itself finding a good T.

 

[ILoveLife]

Did you do a lot of research/ reading prior to going into therapy?

For CBT and EMDR. Oh and IFS.
They did other stuff too and the research meant nothing in the end.
Lots of lousy therapists in my baggage.

 

[MyWillow]

I’m totally new to this but I wonder if you haven’t quite found the right T. I’ve lucked in with both my first psychologist - who realised she was in over her head - and the psydoc she referred me to. I’m not someone who talks about anything but she has an amazing ability to not let me avoid whilst pulling me back into the window of tolerance. It’s costing me a lot but it’s worth it.

 

[Marvel545]

For CBT and EMDR. Oh and IFS.

I'm going to look into each method & see what resonates.

I’m totally new to this but I wonder if you haven’t quite found the right T.

I think it's either this, or my social front is masking how bad my symptoms are. Could be a bit of both. Maybe I'm minimising my issues in T & the T isn't picking up on it. It took 3 months for my T to diagnose me with PTSD. That set me off on the journey of the past 8 months.

 

[MyWillow]

Mmmmmm....I’m very very functional. I’m fine. Seriously. But these 2 have punctured my front like no-one ever has. My first T a little too much. My psydoc has slowed things down.

 

[NightSky]

I believe finding the right T is huge. I saw one TERRIBLE one for a month. Then a really good one who referred me to someone else. And stayed with that one for two useless years. I think she was smart and maybe effective for others. She told me i had PTSD but I sat frozen every single week robotically discussing anything and everything and never trusted her or cared to trust her or let my guard down at all. That was almost ten years ago. Now I’ve been with my current T three years and the difference is astounding. I have wrestled hard with her through the not trusting and not wanting to be attached and being frozen while there. I think the main difference aside from how well we click and her warm, calming demeanor which puts me at ease (which in an of themselves make a world of difference), is that she allows email correspondence. As amazing as she is, I still cannot talk openly in person. I tell her a lot through email. Probably twice a month or so I’ll email what’s REALLY going on and how I’m really doing. That has allowed me to learn how to let my guard down in person. It’s soooo slow. But I’m learning so much. I don’t know if email ability would help you as much as it has me. But i do know being transparent about your trust issues consistently is important. And for me, I have to tell my T somehow what I’m really experiencing, or else she wouldn’t know. In person I’m extremely composed and never stray from being even keel, emotionally. That’s part of the reason I didn’t get anywhere with the other one I had. Sorry if none of this applies. I know how hard it can be to find a good match.

 

[ElleKaye]

I have a difficult time as well. It's really hard for me to open up to therapists in general. I feel like they expect so much trust so fast. I have been starting communicating with a notebook but even then that has been a challenge for some.

 

[EveHarrington]

I think it would help if you shared what type of therapy you were actually doing. What happened in sessions? What style of therapy did your therapist use?

 

[Swift]

I had good results with two less conventional styles.

I did art therapy in a group setting first, basically because I refused to talk to anyone, and couldn't verbalise my feelings (and still can't about specific things.) It was fantastic, liberating, and I didn't have to do it "right" or say the "right" things to anyone, or feel how I "should" about things. I'm no artist but I enjoy creative pursuits, and getting to piss about with crayons and call it therapy was actually pretty brilliant. There's no arguing with what comes out of your psyche that way - I couldn't deny lots of things once I'd drawn them, even if I could spin rhetoric til the cows come home and annoy my shrink by being pedantic instead of talking. So that gets an A plus from me. It was an easy way of doing hard work. I think doing it at the start of my process was really helpful.

The second I've recently started, which is neurofeedback. It's helping my brain with it's dysfunctional patterns, and retraining my brainwaves to work better. I think more clearly, I'm more mentally organized, my baseline mood is better.
The drawback to this therapy is there's no trauma processing, or reprocessing. But I think it's helpful.