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Long term therapy guilt

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Taylor27

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Does anyone feel guilty for being in therapy so long even though it's helping?

I have been in therapy for a long time 19 years. The majority of the time was spent with therapist not understanding and only focusing on the surface issues.


In the last 18 months with a brand new therapist. I am truly making progress and starting to deal with some deep issues I was unaware of. I feel like im no where near the end of therapy. I think im being too hard on myself and some of my close friends don't understand. My husband is so very supportive and he knows it's helping me

Also in the new year my therapist wants me to start coming in once a week instead of every 3 weeks. I think that would help me make good progress and deal with some deeper issues.
 
I was in therapy for 15+ years and school counseling before that. I am not done with therapy but am taking a break. I don't remember feeling guilty but plenty frustrated that I hadn't gotten cured, already. In one sense, maybe it was guilt because I felt like I hadn't done good enough in therapy to become cured.

I got caught not making much progress for a while but I feel like this ended with my last therapist who is probably also going to be my next therapist. For the most part, I figure whatever is improving things is worth doing.
 
I think that you've answered your own question....! Why feel guilty about something that your so self assured about helping you. Really glad to hear that your making such great progress. I've had some terrible therapists. But eventually found a great one and he's male which was very important to me. Haven't seen him for months because of covid and I didn't want to do video/phone therapy. Just my choice. If your friends don't understand that's their problem. I think that alot of people can have therapy for a long time without addressing core/deep issues but that's their choice. I wasn't shy with my counsellor. My philosophy is that I'm paying alot of money for this so I'll 'get right to it'! Sometimes we talk about more superficial stuff but I needed someone right of the bat that I could talk about 'heavy' stuff with. And that I could trust.
 
I was in therapy for 15+ years and school counseling before that. I am not done with therapy but am taking a break. I don't remember feeling guilty but plenty frustrated that I hadn't gotten cured, already. In one sense, maybe it was guilt because I felt like I hadn't done good enough in therapy to become cured.

I got caught not making much progress for a while but I feel like this ended with my last therapist who is probably also going to be my next therapist. For the most part, I figure whatever is improving things is worth doing.
Thank you, I can really relate to not trying hard enough to being cured. I think now that im starting to make progress the fustration that used to hang over me is no longer there all the time.

I think that you've answered your own question....! Why feel guilty about something that your so self assured about helping you. Really glad to hear that your making such great progress. I've had some terrible therapists. But eventually found a great one and he's male which was very important to me. Haven't seen him for months because of covid and I didn't want to do video/phone therapy. Just my choice. If your friends don't understand that's their problem. I think that alot of people can have therapy for a long time without addressing core/deep issues but that's their choice. I wasn't shy with my counsellor. My philosophy is that I'm paying alot of money for this so I'll 'get right to it'! Sometimes we talk about more superficial stuff but I needed someone right of the bat that I could talk about 'heavy' stuff with. And that I could trust.
Thank you, my therapist has been great. Me and her tried phone sessions until I could no longer do it and she made it possible for me to see her in a bigger room until she was allowed to see me in her office. I think i just need to relax and be okay with being in therapy.
 
If you need it, you need it. I long ago accepted the fact that I'm just going to need therapy for the rest of my life. Without it, the quality of my life is much poorer. I'm very fortunate that I have found therapists who are perfectly suited for me.
Thats why im in therapy too, without it i have a hard time coping. Thats been a challenge all my life. At the start of me seeking therapy I had one therapist who really understood me, but after 7 years she terminated me. So for a long time every therapist who i saw was very cold distant and really pushed me away. It was not til 18 months ago i found a therapist who has taken the time to get to know me, listen and now im starting to work on me again.
 
Does anyone feel guilty for being in therapy so long even though it's helping?
Not particularly. But then, I’ve never been overly classist. Just because I’m neither wealthy nor powerful, it doesn’t follow that I don’t rate advisors or that my life doesn’t matter. Sure, I might not need an in-house staff of experts in their fields, nor whole dang council of advisors; but just because I can’t afford to pay the annual salaries of a few dozen people, doesn’t mean I can’t hire an expert for a few hours here & there.

I really don’t see it as any different from going out to a restaurant to buy a meal from a chef, rather than employing a chef. Or to take my Jeep to the mechanic, rather than having my own, in a fully equipped garage. Or to sending my kids to school rather than private tutors. Or countless other examples.

I’m working class, so I hire people by the hour, and by the job. Shrug. No need to feel guilty over that. Regardless of whom I’m hiring for what purpose. Electrician or Therapist.
 
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