Extended sessions?

[hymnless]

Hi all

Right now I'm in the middle of doing EMDR (it's awful but also maybe working?) while also seeing my regular therapist. I don't talk much to the trauma therapist, since EMDR isn't super talk focused. When I do want to talk about something, I prefer to talk to my regular therapist.

It takes me quite a while in a session to be able to really open up and start talking about the stuff that's coming up. I trust my therapist, I just have a hard time talking in general. Has anyone else had this issue and tried to get insurance to cover extended sessions? If they won't, was your therapist willing to do private pay? Or just in general had this issue and have any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Rumors]

I private pay bc I don't want to have to deal with insurance barriers. I am grateful that I can afford to go once a week, but I needed to work at my own pace. If I had to be on some accelerated pace, I would have quit. As for not being able to open up, it comes and goes and I think that is the nature of the beast. I work hard to be as open as I can be and move at a pace that doesn't put me in harms way.

 

[EveHarrington]

I think pretty much all therapists do private pay. It's a TON easier in terms of paperwork. In fact, in my experience, most decent PTSD trauma therapists are self pay. (Which sucks if you have insurance but no out of network benefits!)

 

[hymnless]

I private pay bc I don't want to have to deal with insurance barriers. I am grateful that I can afford t...

Yeah I am just a little slow and it takes me probably half of every session to get to a point where I can really talk, which leaves things in a tough spot because she doesn't want to send me out the door so escalated. I'm just trying to figure out what to do from here I suppose. Maybe I just feel weird asking to do longer sessions? Idk

 

[Rumors]

Yeah I am just a little slow and it takes me probably half of every session to get to a point where I...

It really is a leap of faith to talk about it with your therapist. I think it could really help if you did. I am guessing your therapist already knows this but perhaps by talking about it the two of you can brainstorm some ideas that could help.
The first year I spent with my therapist, we would small talk about our kids and families for about 15-20 minutes and she would segway in to somethingore therapeutic. Now, I laugh thinking about this, we exchange the quick "hey how's it going" and then she just jumps right in to asking me how I am physically, emotionally, and otherwise. Now I may get 3 minutes of exchange and then I am right on in to talking about my crazy life. She drives that and I need a driver. It helps me bc I am not good at talking either. If she touches on a subject I can't handle, I simply say "I need to shelf that for another day" and she makes a note and then we move on. But! I had that very hard conversation a long time ago with her. I told her if she sat in silence waiting on me to bring something up, I would leave. I also realized it took me 40 plus years to get to therapy and I have had a very long time of doing it wrong so I need to give myself a break while I am relearning. Sucks but true... be patient...have some self compassion for what you are going through. Best to you! Let us know how it is going.

 

[hymnless]

Thanks for the encouragement guys :) we ended up talking about it today and she liked the idea as long as it didn't become overwhelming for me. So we will see how it goes. I feel nervous that I'm still going to choke and not be able to talk, but just over a longer period of time. I've not verbalized most of my trauma before, so it's slow moving.

 

[Rumors]

Thanks for the encouragement guys :) we ended up talking about it today and she liked the idea as lon...

Great news! Hang in there!