How Did You Tell Your Therapist About Your Trauma?

[Skylynx]

When some people ask how long it takes, they really mean they hope it takes a very long time, because they have a deep Tranference relationship going. That's me.

 

[Justmehere]

"How did you tell your therapist about your trauma?"
A lot of different ways. I have awkwardly blurting it out on occasion. One time, I wrote it down, in her office, because I couldn't talk at all. She handed me pen and paper and I got the words out. Another time, I talked about similar trauma that happened to a friend - who was actually someone who had posted here (I didn't tell her it was an online friend from this forum) and as we talked about that, it made it easier to talk about my own trauma. Sometimes I tell her I have something hard to tell her, and she helps me tell her.

She also helps me not say more than I can handle in that moment. The goal of talking about trauma in therapy isn't just to get the words out. Pacing can sometimes be really important so we don't get destabilized. Going slow sometimes is a part of the healing process itself.

"Did your therapist ask you about it or did you just tell him or her?"
A bit of both.

"What if you can't talk about it?"
Some of it we have processed through somatic based therapies - where putting ALL of it into words isn't necessary, but my therapist does need to know a general outline. When I can't talk about something, we talk about my fears about sharing something and work through those until I am able to talk more about it. Part of what happens along the way is a lot of relationship work that is in and of itself very healing. I get to experience someone who is very

"Can people recover from PTSD without talking about their trauma or telling their therapist about it?"
I guess nothing is impossible... but this would be an extreme rarity. There is a saying that what is broken in relationship can only be healed in relationship. I think that there is some truth to this.

"Even if I do tell her about it, how many sessions would it take to process the trauma?"
No one really knows for sure. It takes as long as it takes. It's also not like once you start, you can't stop until you are done. I have taken breaks at times, and it's been helpful to do that. My therapist says some people are only ready to work on certain traumas or to only do work to a certain level because of the phase of life or healing they are in, and that's ok. Everyone's journey looks a little different.

Do you know what is holding you back from talking to her about it?