WillowMarie
Silver Member
I just had my second appointment with my new therapist. I am really excited because I really like her so far, her style, and how knowledgeable she is. When I was looking at profiles, it stated that she had a special interest in trauma, so I felt really hopeful about that. She is gentle/relaxed, as well as enthusiastic/energetic.
First appointment was asking all the general questions. Second appointment she started off with asking if anything came up, or I forget to mention any thing. I told her that I knew that when healing from trauma more things can come up, and that when they do, I wanted advice because they tend to hit me over and over again until I deal with them. She seemed excited and said, that is exactly what I was going to talk you about today. :) She started off telling me about imagery and that it is important since your mind connects things to symbols. (Examples were brand/business symbols like McD's) So she asked about picturing my trauma as a whole and what kind of picture it would be. I saw a big sphere with a jagged edge with dark coloring. Then she had me picture the journey her and I will take in therapy. I had already saw a lush, beautiful forest before she said, let's pick something from nature.
Then she told about stories about how animals are and how they don't worry after the fact or think of the future, which she said she will reference at points. Then she started saying different scenarios that have already happened or that were in different countries that were bad situations. She had me reply"It is out of range. Nothing needs to be done." She threw in my dad hitting my brother, for one of the instances and I started to feel emotional, and I actually had a hard time replying with that because I didn't really believe it... but I did. After a two more instances, she could tell I was feeling a bit/dissociated and asked me where I went. I told her it made me think of my dad smacked my brother. (She must have remembered from the first session that I had a memory of that, sneaky therapist ;) )
She went into asking about if I remember putting my pants on this morning, and I said yes. She was saying that when I think about that memory, I don't have to do anything, like putting on my pants because they are already on. She also explained, bringing it back to the animals, that when they have a thought, it is always because they can do it and then they do it. She brought this back to the trauma and explained about how it gets stored in the brain and about how we might feel like we need to react, but don't need to. She went into saying memories (like putting pants on, eating a cake, my dad smacking my brother). To which I responded I am not *whatever the action of the memory was*. It doesn't exist. This is to help me realize there is not threat right now and to use both self-talk when something comes up.
Then she had me talk about the memory. She also said if I started feeling emotions creep up to say stop telling the story and say three colors I see around the room. First a very quick version while we tossed a ball back and forth. Then she asked me to add more detail. I added more detail while we tossed the ball back and forth. She encouraged me and said, that's a good detail! When I was done with that one and after tossing the ball one last time, I realized immediately my hands felt shaky and I was feeling a bit of anxiety.I said it outloud and she came to sit next to me on the couch. She had me hold my hand out in front of me and hold my thumb pointed towards the ceiling. My hand was being weird and I felt my fingers twitching, but she said to let it happen and that it was a good thing. To say yes in my head everytime I felt it twitch, while she continued saying it outloud. I was closing my eyes and she was also telling me to imagine the forest that I envisioned for our journey. And notice anything about it. She also was explaining that trauma stores a lot of energy in the body and, I think, that this was some of the energy leaving the body. Has anyone ever done this before or hd experience with it?
She asked me how this was different from talking about trauma before. And I told her I feel a lot more emotional and am much more dissociated, but throwing the ball helped me to stay in the present a ton. I think this was the first time I felt good leaving a therapy appointment. I feel like this is a great fit. And am really excited about it! I think I have finally found a therapist that knows how to help me and that I feel comfortable around! :D
First appointment was asking all the general questions. Second appointment she started off with asking if anything came up, or I forget to mention any thing. I told her that I knew that when healing from trauma more things can come up, and that when they do, I wanted advice because they tend to hit me over and over again until I deal with them. She seemed excited and said, that is exactly what I was going to talk you about today. :) She started off telling me about imagery and that it is important since your mind connects things to symbols. (Examples were brand/business symbols like McD's) So she asked about picturing my trauma as a whole and what kind of picture it would be. I saw a big sphere with a jagged edge with dark coloring. Then she had me picture the journey her and I will take in therapy. I had already saw a lush, beautiful forest before she said, let's pick something from nature.
Then she told about stories about how animals are and how they don't worry after the fact or think of the future, which she said she will reference at points. Then she started saying different scenarios that have already happened or that were in different countries that were bad situations. She had me reply"It is out of range. Nothing needs to be done." She threw in my dad hitting my brother, for one of the instances and I started to feel emotional, and I actually had a hard time replying with that because I didn't really believe it... but I did. After a two more instances, she could tell I was feeling a bit/dissociated and asked me where I went. I told her it made me think of my dad smacked my brother. (She must have remembered from the first session that I had a memory of that, sneaky therapist ;) )
She went into asking about if I remember putting my pants on this morning, and I said yes. She was saying that when I think about that memory, I don't have to do anything, like putting on my pants because they are already on. She also explained, bringing it back to the animals, that when they have a thought, it is always because they can do it and then they do it. She brought this back to the trauma and explained about how it gets stored in the brain and about how we might feel like we need to react, but don't need to. She went into saying memories (like putting pants on, eating a cake, my dad smacking my brother). To which I responded I am not *whatever the action of the memory was*. It doesn't exist. This is to help me realize there is not threat right now and to use both self-talk when something comes up.
Then she had me talk about the memory. She also said if I started feeling emotions creep up to say stop telling the story and say three colors I see around the room. First a very quick version while we tossed a ball back and forth. Then she asked me to add more detail. I added more detail while we tossed the ball back and forth. She encouraged me and said, that's a good detail! When I was done with that one and after tossing the ball one last time, I realized immediately my hands felt shaky and I was feeling a bit of anxiety.I said it outloud and she came to sit next to me on the couch. She had me hold my hand out in front of me and hold my thumb pointed towards the ceiling. My hand was being weird and I felt my fingers twitching, but she said to let it happen and that it was a good thing. To say yes in my head everytime I felt it twitch, while she continued saying it outloud. I was closing my eyes and she was also telling me to imagine the forest that I envisioned for our journey. And notice anything about it. She also was explaining that trauma stores a lot of energy in the body and, I think, that this was some of the energy leaving the body. Has anyone ever done this before or hd experience with it?
She asked me how this was different from talking about trauma before. And I told her I feel a lot more emotional and am much more dissociated, but throwing the ball helped me to stay in the present a ton. I think this was the first time I felt good leaving a therapy appointment. I feel like this is a great fit. And am really excited about it! I think I have finally found a therapist that knows how to help me and that I feel comfortable around! :D
