An Hours Not Enough

[FindingMyself88]

VERY well said @anthony . Thankfully my therapist understands this and often times allows for over the hour if she can schedule it, especially when doing EMDR. Like today, she scheduled me for 2 hours but then had a cancellation after that, so we went 2 and a half hours. It was a blessing because I needed to talk to her about something that happened and it also gave us time to work on grounding skills before I left. She promised me she would never send me out of the door if she didn't think I was okay and safe.

 

[ghotiff]

I had thought I was alone with my inability to make full use of 1 hour. I might bring this up with my T, she seems pretty open so she might agree with 90 minutes. Thanks everyone.

 

[joeylittle]

My structure in therapy is one two-hour session for trauma work, a one hour a few days later to deal with the fallout, and if we need it another one hour to address things non-PTSD related. I cannot imagine making it work any other way, and I'm really fortunate I'm insured and my therapist does a sliding scale.

Asking for the time you need is very healthy, I think. Good luck.

 

[KwanYingirl]

My therapist is open to whatever I want to do for time. Money is an issue for me. If I could sell my house and downsize it will help. I'm glad to know I'm not alone in the struggle to make 45 minutes amount to anything.

 

[Suzetig]

My therapist too has consistently given me the time that I need from her, I feel safe knowing she won't let me leave if I'm not ok and she's given me way above my usual session time at points in our work together. I don't contact her at all between sessions unless for scheduling purposes so all the work gets done face to face but she commits to giving me time to do it.

 

[ghotiff]

I contacted my T and she has agreed to 90 min. I'm a bit nervous because it means we will process more, but long term I think this will be a great thing.

 

[PollyScotland]

I pay for private therapy so can only really manage one hour per month. I am about to start EMDR therapy and I think the sessions need to be closer together to be any use. It's a point to discuss on Monday and it may mean I have to dip into my savings... :depressed:

Edited to add: earlier this year I booked two hours together to work through some issues. It was great to have the luxury of time.

 

[Leigh925]

My insurance is not paying for my therapy right now but one hour wasn't it doing it for me. I meet twice a week with my therapist now. One day for one hour and then later in the week for two hours. It has made the biggest difference. I am really broke doing this though and it does stress me out but my husband keeps telling me that I am worth it and I am starting to believe him. I definitely felt like I was just spinning my wheels and getting no where at 50 minutes. Sometimes in the beginning it would take me that long just to get comfortable or to actually get myself back in my own body so we could get some work done!

 

[KwanYingirl]

So I have to decide whether or not to add more time per week. Can you folks tell me what more you get done with twice a week. I guess I don't really understand what people mean when they say "trauma work". Clarification of this would help me.

 

[The Albatross]

I normalized settling down faster during the sessions due to increased frequency... what used to take me a half or entire session to settle down only started taking about 15-20 minutes. For the remaining time I could process some stuff.

 

[joeylittle]

I guess I don't really understand what people mean when they say "trauma work".

For me, those are the processing sessions; I use EFT, so its the tapping work. For an EMDR person, it would be the actual doing the eye stuff. SE, I think it would be doing the bodywork. In other words, a session that is planned around doing the working through and processing the events of/story of the trauma. Not time spent on how those events affect everyday life, or what happened at work, or such.

For me, it even means no mucking around with being afraid to get into things. I'll get stuck, for sure; but if its a day when we are going to be doing trauma work, I really have incentive to break through those barriers; even if that means we only get through a few individual moments in the "story".

The follow-up session is then to deal with how hard the aftermath of that is in my daily life. Like with EMDR, I'm usually "off" for 24-48 hours following a processing session. More triggerable, increased hypervigilance, sleep issues - all the symptoms dial themselves up. So, we talk about that, how I'm coping (or not), how I still need to accept that this is tough stuff and I'm not supposed to be superwoman when it comes to healing, etc.

Within a 2 hour EFT (trauma work) session, we will generally take about 10 minutes to get focused on the task at hand, about 90 minutes actually on the trauma (whatever section we are working on), and then the other 15-20 wrapping up and getting me back into a place where I can safely leave without being too dissociated or amped up.

 

[Brenton]

I think I'll get to therapy today, give him his money and turn around and leave. I'm getting nowhere...

I feel you, especially on the calming down before you leave. It seems like you're just getting somewhere and the hour is up. I book longer sessions sometimes and cover what insurance doesn't. Its not cheap, so I cant do it a lot. But sometimes I need a longer session.
If your T is willing and you have the funds, see if you can do 90 min or maybe 2 hours, whatever you feel you need.