Dissociation during Therapy, how does T react.

[lizbeth27]

Do you know how much training and experience your T has with this?

I don't know why and when you dissociate but it is really hard to deal with in therapy. I do it constantly and at first my therapist seemed to think I was either stupid or on drugs, and I'm not either! It's painful when people's misunderstandings feed into your fears about yourself, especially when it comes from professionals. Mine's a constant fog that makes me into an apathetic zombie that struggles to take anything in or communicate. it's also very hard to get about because it does a lot of stuff to my vision and proprioception. It's early days with my current therapist but she does seem fairly familiar with grounding (well, she has a basket with stones in it in the room!) I have found that, for me, a generally bad diet due to disordered eating habits makes it worse. A lot worse. I'm struggling to understand this, but it does seem to be the case, and it feels like a far harder set of habits to break than I feel it should be.

I read that the poster above, Reflections, records the sessions. Maybe you can do that too, if you're generally more cogent outside of sessions and have the time to listen to it again during the week.

 

[whiteraven]

My current T doesn’t. It’s up to me to bring myself back.

This is my current therapist, too. The one that diagnosed the DID asked me what would help and we went with that.

He just allowed the emergence of my insiders, though, so he could work with them.

A T I had very briefly encouraged it. Motherf*cker. He’s also one of those “name your parts” and strongly encourages DID diagnoses. :wtf: Kicked that guy to the curb right quick.

I'm curious. Are you saying that he diagnosed DID unnecessarily? I don't really agree with naming "parts" if it's not clear you have separate insiders with their own personalities, but if you do, recognizing their names is beneficial to accepting and working with them.

 

[whiteraven]

Mine says -- "Hey Freida, you're dissociating."
And then we work a couple grounding exercises to get me back.

It's really kind of a non event - so you might ask your T what she means when she says "we will address it when it happens"

Yes. This.

 

[NightSky]

My current T has helped me so much with this. My first T taught me what it was but I met with her for 2 years and was never “in the room” so I didn’t make progress.
My current t triggered me fairly early on and the dissociation was so intense (tunnel vision. Loss of hearing. Couldn’t move for god knows how long) she and I both learned very quickly what works and what doesn’t. Now, 3 years later, as soon as my eyes get a little glazed, she says “are you with me?” And that’s only if it starts to happen. If I’m not, she’ll ask me to make eye contact and then name three blue things in the room for example. Most often we avoid it and if doesn’t happen because she watches me so closely and changes subjects quickly if needed. And she will even say sometimes “I’m being very careful about how I word this because I want you to stay in the room with me.” I think her most used tactic is subject changing. She’ll bring some levity into the room. Or tell a quick story about herself. There have been times when none of that works and if that’s the case she asks me to email her when I get home to tell her what was going on. I think the dissociation has gotten so much better in her room because I feel truly seen and cared for.