Search results

Gaslighting isn't about stealing jewelry...it doesn't even have to be done maliciously. It's a relational dynamic...a pattern of relating...that shows up fairly consistently in dysfunctional families. Gaslighting is when people say...you don't get to have your own experience of reality. If you...

It's a well-known term used in describing a well-defined relationship dynamic in codependent families. Gaslighting: Link Removed http://outofthefog.net/CommonBehaviors/Gaslighting.html Codependency: http://www.whatiscodependency.com/symptoms-of-codependency/

...this is called gaslighting. They have to make you look crazy so they can believe their craziness. My family is made up of very intelligent, well-educated people, too. They really think I've lost my mind to be creating boundaries and facing issues and not kowtowing to the family line that all...

This pretty much sums up my opinion on it, too. You're an adult...you live in a different country...your mother is an adult and has other family around her...there is absolutely no way you are responsible for her well-being. At all. Other families love each other and care about each other's...

Oh man...I completely agree with your T. I'll be at a computer in a few minutes and can go deeper with that statement, but with my experience with my crazy, codependent family, this is most definitely scapegoating.

In addition to what others here have said...I think there are a lot of people "out there" somewhere who have similar characteristics to the things we admire in our Ts. And the healthier we become as individuals, the more likely we'll be able to attract those kinds of relationships into our...

I was going to suggest some brain-waves type music (which you can find 8-hour segments on YouTube for free) until I read this part. You might still like it, though...here's one I like: And here's a bubbling-water video I love to have in the background: That said...along the lines of...

This is an insightful distinction. An example for me that isn't nearly so intense...when I write something that I feel like has really, accurately expressed a part of something inside me, and then I send it to a friend or to my T...I'm not looking for compliments. People normally respond with...

This is what I do on the weeks when I have to miss a session for some reason, and it does help me get through it. Not only that, but it has helped me get a little perspective on the sessions when I do have them (usually once a week for me). At the beginning of the year, I spent the whole week...

Your OP basically described what brought me to therapy--I had tried everything I could think of on my own, it wasn't enough, and I needed an injection of expertise and perspective that I couldn't give myself. And then my T turned out to be more client-centered than that, and I spent about 9...

Wait, some people dream without seeing pictures at all? How??? My dreams are vivid...not just pictures, but videos/audio, and I'm part of what's going on--it feels very real. I read one time that people don't see colors in dreams, but I absolutely do. In fact, sometimes the colors are what...

Simplified, yes, but ultimately it's a kids' movie. I wondered what it would look like to make the next movie...when Riley becomes a teenager and critical thinking becomes a bigger portion of her inner world...or the next one when Riley becomes an adult and all of the parts transition into a...

Very good movie. My daughter and I saw it first in the theater. Then we bought it on Amazon recently, and the kids have been watching it over and over and over ever since. Even my DH sat and watched it...twice. He missed the first few minutes the first time he saw it, so went back to watch that...

Maybe you could create Dr. Seuss-like writing/art. You could even do Dr. Seuss-like art-writing-combined stuff designed for adults...whimsical art to complement thoughtful and emotional explorations of the human experience.

What about doing therapy over Skype? It's not ideal, but could be better than nothing...

I love your posts. You make me laugh. :) Seems like this statement could be applied to a dozen other theories used in psychotherapy, too. Doesn't mean the theories/approaches/therapies don't have any use, because some of them do work some of the time for some people. I had a T tell me last...

I'm curious... :) What imagery are you using to access your higher self, if you don't mind sharing?

We've mostly had to focus on just trying to identify it. There's so much disorganization in my inner world, and parts that seem to take over my consciousness (not really DID, but still pretty extreme dissociation) to where I have a hard time even admitting that the other parts exist. So we've...

This sounds like the same thing, essentially, that my T calls the "True Self." He started talking about it almost from my first appt nearly a year ago. He referenced Dead Link Removed as a good author to read up on it (and there are also a lot of videos available online). So, according to my...

Is the same as the "True Self"?

My Ts have occasionally suggested using an IOP (intensive outpatient program). They're expensive, and I can't afford that. So they suggested I put together my own program. That means no one person gives me the big picture, but I can reach out to lots of different types of people to help me see...

My Ts talk about it pretty regularly, too, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. We had a really good conversation a couple of months back about a revelation I had. I read on this board somewhere, I think, where someone had said, "Safety isn't a place. It's a state of being." One of my Ts...

We've talked about it several times, actually. I've made it clear that I really, truly don't know what needs to be done. On the one hand, I understand their perspective: I've been working at this for over 2 decades...if there was a simple formula to fix this thing, I would've done it already. So...