Help! I'm Too Scared To Go Back To Therapy!

[Rumors]

Everything we do finally share loses it's power to bring the feelings of our traumas into our present-day experiences. That's a goal that keeps me facing each fear down...the ability to face it, push through it, and finally leave it behind.

Tell her everything you're worried about.

So very true and made me really think. Thanks.

 

[SwordsPandaGirl]

@BloomInWinter Thank you for the great advice. I haven't really been giving her a chance to do any of that, which I should. I'm so scared to share though. I have a bad habit of panicking and then avoiding the situation. I think I'm going to tell her all my fears with sharing during my next session, hopefully that'll help.

Thanks everyone.

 

[BloomInWinter]

Sharing just the basics is a good way to learn to trust in our own ability to successfully tolerate our distress. There's no better place to panic than in the therapy room.

Our therapist observes how panic symptoms manifest in us and help us discover tools to use to manage our symptoms when they occur outside of therapy. Our distress is an important diagnostic tool for our therapists. We reveal vulnerabilities that could cause us to have safety issues out in the world. These become a good target for work to help our functioning and safety.

The therapy room is the place to show our injuries, not hide them. If we were going for therapy for cancer, would we try to hide our symptoms from the healers?

The fear is still there for me before each EMDR session, but I know I can do it anyway now. It sure took a long time to get here, though.

 

[ronin47]

What you are feeling is certainly natural and normal. It seems to me that you understand that you must talk about the abuse at some point in order to heal. I would suggest thinking long and hard about what details of the abuse you would feel...I won't say comfortable...able to share with her. Take some time to deliberately prepare. Maybe write it out first. One sentence at a time.