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It's not just not clicking. It's paid professionals slacking off when they know and are capable of better most of the time. I don't understand this. Do you mean a therapist or just anyone in my life?

No, I mean going in and having whole sessions wasted on small talk -- like forcing it down my throat to the point where I almost got up and walked out. One thing I will say for my new therapist is that she at least lets me talk about whatever I want even if she doesn't seem to get it. Now that...

She didn't say that she wouldn't direct the early sessions; she said she wouldn't direct, full stop. I mentioned some things about exposure therapy and other modules to her. She seems very clueless about them. Habitual thought pattern? Or habitual reality pattern? The fact is that incompetence...

Volumes have been written on psychological counseling and therapy. Maybe not all of the methods are right for every patient. I wish my therapist would at least start with a template instead of sitting there shooting the breeze without any plan or direction. Can you tell us what happened and what...

Maybe two months.

She knew the name. But when I mentioned things like the Oedipal situation, libido, id and ego, she didn't have anything to contribute except a blank stare.

I got you. I've been to that site many times. Those rates are not in my budget at this point.

I have extremely limited insurance right now. I've practically exhausted all the other options it offers. But thank you for this reply anyway. What your therapist is doing sounds like a very good approach to me. I guess what I meant there is, what does the research say? How did these two...

@C j, so in your experience, which approach works? Is my therapist right?

It's from all the way back in 1967, but I just read a book called The Betrayal of the Body by Alexander Lowen. It talked about how neglectful or abusive parents arrest and distort the pleasure principle in children and how this carries over to adulthood. I found it really helpful.

I mentioned to the therapist I see that she rarely asks questions or gives prompts to get me talking about something. I come in and sit down and she just sits there with nothing to say. It's kind of awkward. I have to get the ball rolling myself. "So, ahem, I had a some trouble with sleep this...

@Sandstone, do you meditate? I meditate daily and have been considering Tai Chi as another way to ground into my body. How do they compare? Also, who is "OH?" Can't you get the instructor to say something to her that leaves you anonymous? Am I confused?

I have to disagree here. This book has been more helpful and elucidating to me than all of the therapists I've seen combined. The Freudian principals dealing with the libido, the id, the ego, and the Oedipal situation that Lowen continually refers to triggered Eureka moments. Modern...

I found this book called The Betrayal of the Body by a psychoanalyst named Alexander Lowen published in 1967. I am interested in somatic theories of emotional illness and healing, so I thought I'd skim through it. I was engrossed by the book's analysis of how childhood experiences cause people...

I am wondering if developmental trauma that goes all the way back to early childhood tends to go deeper and be harder to heal. This is compared to someone who suffered a single trauma as an adult.

And he used the word "cure" sure enough. I wish I knew what data he was referring to. It "can" commonly and reliably? Or it "can" under the best possible circumstances with the best possible therapist? I have seen five therapists so far, and they have all been useless or worse.

Okay, but is traditional talk therapy the way you do this?

I went to see my psychiatrist today, and he said that the data shows that therapy has a good chance of "curing" (his term) PTSD. Is this true?

Hi @Celtic. It was just something that I came up with. It takes a lot of discipline. Hope it helps you.

Sounds to me like PE comes pretty close to "simply talking about it." Not that I'm complaining. I personally have found "just talking about it" to be helpful when I've been allowed to do it. Being shut down by therapists who for whatever reason don't want to hear it has been my number one...

Don't you feel like it has to be both? Even major body work proponents like Van Der Kolk say that their therapy is still very talky. I had one therapist with whom I was supposed to be doing SE, but our therapy was mostly talk with some grounding practices and noticing sensations. Was she doing...

Just curious-- is there an evidence-based modality?

Somatic Experiencing, but there are no practitioners in my network. The network is so paltry, you'd get nowhere asking for a specialist.

This is a reasonable. I still feel like something is just different about a therapist who will go there and one who won't, and you can feel it right away. Usual? Not in my experience.

I don't think my standards are too high. When I hear someone on here say they have a wonderful therapist, what does that mean? They listen to you when you talk? They follow your train of thought? They ask relevant questions? They don't try to shut you up to give themselves a break? Okay, you...