Annoying Therapy Questions

[Innordinate]

"Why do you think you do that?"
"Do you want to talk about it?"

a what...................?

 

[jewel]

My therapist wants to make a plan of where I'll be in 6 months. I said, "6 months?". He said, "ok how about 3 months". I just looked at him. He said, "1 month". I continued to stare. He said, "Next week?".

He should just stop asking the f**king question!!!! Doesn't he know I don't see a future yet?!

OMG! This is so me. I just blew off a guy because he saw a future and did not understand that the furthest I could see is a week. :)

 

[anthony]

The only person stopping you from seeing further though is yourself, and the idea of therapy is to use distraction to get you to DO something that you don't normally do. So whilst a therapist says these things, maybe if you want to look further, you will intentionally make a plan further, ie. two weeks, then four weeks, etc, increasing it, so you relearn how to set future goals.

 

[Phaed]

I'm so glad my therapist now "gets me"

I agree after having been to several different therapists I finally found one I love. It makes a huge difference.

 

[Heather]

The only person stopping you from seeing further though is yourself.

I was going to quote this and say that I just went 10 rounds last night with Alli about this very thing and then I see at the bottom of the page: who likes this: ALLI :roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

Seriously though, it's hard to think about a future when you feel like such a piece of sh*t and every aspect of my life reflects that.

 

[The Albatross]

For me it was the inkblots. I never once "saw" anything. I hate ink blots.

 

[allitherapy]

I was going to quote this and say that I just went 10 rounds last night with Alli about this very thing and then I see at the bottom of the page: who likes this: ALLI :roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

Seriously though, it's hard to think about a future when you feel like such a piece of sh*t and every aspect of my life reflects that.

So Heather, like I said last night, you need to find something good about your life that makes you want to see a future. Maybe you haven't thought about it this way, but your beautiful daughter will have a future. Don't you want to be part of that? Maybe a good place to start thinking about the future is how you'd like to better yourself so you can be there for her now and in the future. There is always SOMETHING positive, even when everything seems really shitty. Find the one positive thing in your life and shape how you want your future to look based on that thing. There are always unforeseeable events, but for the most part, you decide your future and those decisions start now.

The very reason therapists ask these "annoying" questions is get you to realize things about yourself, like this.

 

[Marie E.]

I am fixing to get a new therapist and I hate when I tell her I really have nothing to say today and she just sits there staring at me for the remainder of the time. I loved my last therapist, but she got a promotion. This one I have now, her boss even dislikes her and agrees with the issues I am having to deal with this one, that she has to go. Note: the boss has told her to knock her sh*t off. So, this is one of my goals, get another therapist.

 

[Heather]

. I hate ink blots.

I had to do ink blots too! They all looked like smashed bugs on a screen or a pile of grapes. Or is that just me?

 

[Missy]

That would make sense to me, Missy, if they asked me if there is a familial history, preferably with an explanation that some of these things are or can be genetically mediated. It doesn't when the VA --with its history of 1) that memo that came to light and 2) the past few years of diagnosing a vast majority of returning vets as having such problems as pre-existing personbality disorders followed by a sudden very sharp switch to the majority of returning vets diagnosed with PTSD in the past year or two-- is paying for the therapy AND the therapists spend SO much time on getting every detail of that unrelated-to-my-disability percentage of my 5 decades plus. I rather think I'd also be more tolerant of this extreme focus on ONLY childhood with perhaps 5 minutes given to the actual PTSD generating trauma and no time given to anything remotely current if it weren't also true that in my area half a dozen already-diagnosed vets disabled with PTSD have been told by a VA-paid counselor/therapist that they actually have something else...

Not yellin' at ya, Missy, just putting in the rest of the info that can tend to make people here very wary of stuff like this. :cautious:

I got ya, no worries. That sounds really sucky. Yeah the VA is super shady.

How about telling your T that you are not "feeling heard" about your current symptoms?

 

[KP the nut]

And this one is my favourite

'What will you take away from todays session' Aaargh, I don't know, I'm still here, I survived and from yesterdays session, I don't feel as troubled, I feel as if a weight has lifted from my shoulders

 

[No Folded Hands]

I think perhaps the therapist I am seeing now will be one that works out, Missy. Here's a funny: I walked into the office for my last appointment and stood in the center of the room sniffing. And sniffing. And sniffing. Just stood there with flaring nostrils paying lots of attention to the odors in the room because they had completely changed. The therapist just sits quietly and waits until I tell him "it smells different in here. Very distracting." We proceeded to discuss the difference for the next 10 minutes until I'd catalogued each one and felt comfortable enough to get down to business.

Ya gotta feel positive about a therapist understanding the client noticing and analyzing ODOR changes! I don't think most people would even get why a change in scents might send one of us into a state of alertness lol!