• We are a multilingual website again. Read the notice about this.
  • Understand AI use at MyPTSD: all AI use is explained in our AI help page. AI use is by choice here. It exists if you want it, but does nothing unless you choose to use it.

I'm Not Comfortable With Therapy

Status
Not open for further replies.

Whitebird

Bronze Member
Hi all,

First of all english is my second language, so I'm sorry if there are some mistakes in my post.

I'm in therapy with a psychologist. Last two sessions he wanted me to say how do I feel about the sessions because it's a part of healing and kinda practising. I said my feeling, but I don't feel comfortable to say my feeling. When I do this I feel kinda naked! I feel I'm not safe!

Anybody have feel ever like that and how do you deal with it? Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi @Whitebird : Sorry to hear about this. I have had this experience every time I shared something with someone. I felt worse when my past was shared with a male (i.e. a GP). Therefore, I decided to see a female GP. There could factors that you need to consider before you choose a therapist. It could be gender, age, race, height, ethnicity or their cultural values that could be affecting your process. Think about what it is that is actually making you uncomfortable with this therapist? Or may you are not ready to share your past with someone you have never met before. There are many factors that play into how we trust someone. It looks like that you are new to this therapy and it might take you a while before sharing everything. Just start slow. I hope this helped.
 
Yes, I feel this, too. I run to the extremes where I either cannot talk about it at all or I cannot stop talking about it. More often I cannot talk about it at all and get downright stupid in the effort to keep from even thinking about it.

I accepted it as one of the reasons I was in therapy. Not a thing to be ashamed of. Just a problem to solve.

Gentle encouragement while you discover what it is for you.
 
I also have this problem. I'm dealing with it right now with my therapy, and just yesterday my therapist said similar things to me. She wants me to open up more about my feelings and be able to share more with her. It's so hard to to talk about things without feeling so vulnerable like you describe. I ruminate over what I say afterward and can't focus on anything else. It's so frustrating. I'm hoping that the more I go and talk to her the easier it will get. I hope the same for you.
 
Like others have said, there's tons of reasons why this could be happening. I don't want to be repetitive so I'll just share a couple that come to mind from own experience. I'm not sure how long you've been seeing your therapist, but if you just started recently, you might not feel ready to share certain things just yet. I know it took me at least a few sessions to feel comfortable enough with my therapist, and I still haven't shared everything. Its also possible that you don't "click" with the therapist. I had to "shop around" for a therapist I felt comfortable with. The one I'm seeing currently is my fourth try, and seems to be finally working out for me. Also, if you truly don't feel safe, you might not want to push yourself too hard. In my hour long sessions, we only talk about the really difficult bits for about half the time. Then she suggests coping strategies to me, and we end with making sure that I feel relatively okay and can continue on with my day. That's not to say I don't have after effects from the therapy, but if I talked about the trauma for the whole time I would be overwhelmed for days afterwards and it would be counterproductive (been there, done that!). Anyhow, just a few thoughts. Good luck to you!
 
To bluelicorice: Thank you for your advice. I've had 7 sessions up to now with my therapist (once a week), but i can't open up about my feeling. My therapist is very professional, so i don't want to change him. I'm trying to trust him. I think it's my problem, i can't show my feeling, so if i change my therapist it's just waste of time and money.

Do you (anybody who see this post) think it's too soon (7 sessions therapy) to trust my therapist? ( i know it depends on me and my problem, but i want to know about your experiences).

Thanks everybody
 
Could you talk more with the therapist about why you don't feel safe and don't trust him? Like are you aware of your reasons for not trusting him? The reasons themselves might be important and could open up some more discussion. Also maybe ask him for some suggestions on how to open up more? He might have some ideas or techniques for you that would work. I understand him wanting you to open up more, but for me anyways, I would probably have the same issues as you, because 7 sessions isn't very many in my opinion. Myself, I've only had 14 sessions total, and I'm just now in the last couple of sessions feeling more "connected" to my therapist and more comfortable sharing things. Maybe you just need a little more time? Can you see him indefinitely, or is it only a limited number of sessions?
 
Yes, I think I can ask him for some suggestions. However, it's a bit difficult! I'm afraid of his suggestions to open up more! If I ask him, I should do his suggestions. And that's why I've never asked about it!

And yes, I can see him indefinitely. I hope it gets better during next sessions, I guess I need more time!

Thank you bluelicorice :)
 
It takes me a long time to trust therapists, or really anyone. My trauma therapist said it doesn't surprise her because of my trauma history. She told me it's normal for people with PTSD.

She asks me and encourages me all the time to tell her anything that would help me feel more comfortable (she even stays away from the word safe because feeling "safe" can feel like an impossible goal for me.) Most of the time, I don't know what would help, but she offers ideas and we keep trying them.

Trust takes as long as it takes. There isn't really a right or wrong or a time by which you should trust a therapist by, as long as you keep working at it and it sounds like you are.

I agree with the suggestion to try to talk about why it's hard to share more with him. I found that so helpful for me to do myself. Just talking through fears about sharing with my therapist helped me in therapy, and in life.

Maybe you could also talk to him about suggestions of things to try that would help you feel safer and more comfortable in therapy, rather than just about how good it would be to share more?

For me, I feel more comfortable in therapy when my therapist gives me a 10 minute heads up before the session ends - then we have time to wind down from any tough topics we have talked about and I don't have to be worried I will leave her office raw and upset. It helps when she explains things more to me. It helps for me to get reassurance about PTSD and the therapy relationship too.

Talking is really hard for me too. There have been times where I have to write stuff down, bring it to session, and I tell her it's too scary to say this. I let my therapist read it in session, she then reassures me about it, and then I can talk about it in little bits at a time. Sometimes I write a lot about a subject and imagine telling it to my therapist, and I get scared. But, if I do it a few times, when it comes time to actually talk to her, it's easier. I told her that I do this and she thought it was a good idea because it's like self imposed exposure therapy in my own head. It can also be triggering to do this, so it's something to do with caution.

I know you feel like you need to do what he suggests, but it's only partly true. It's a good idea to consider his suggestions with an open mind, but you don't have to do them. In fact, it may be very important for you to pick which suggestions you want to do, and which ones you don't, and what you are not yet ready to do. Part of healing from PTSD can be about learning when and how to say "no" and "not right now." Therapy is a great place to learn and practice that skill. Plus, it can help show the therapist you are trying to figure out what will help.

That being said, you can disregard any of these suggestions too if they don't fit for you.

By the way, you have great English! (Maybe better than my English, and I'm a native English speaker!)
 
Thank you very much Justmehere. Your post was very helpful. I read it several times!

Oh, it's extremely difficult for me to write about my experiences, let alone talking! But there is something inside me that tell me "you can do it one day, just wait for that day!"

And thanks for your attention to my English:)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It is not a race, contest, nor a course study with a standardized syllabus, Whitebird. Therapy is the most individualized thing you will ever do in your life. Many can be hurt in the same way, but in healing, each of us fully unique. It is helpful to share experiences with others, if for no other reason than the extra practice in opening up, but trust that something inside you that is saying, "You can do it one day. Just wait for that day."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Donation drives

2026 Donation Goal

Goal
$1,800.00
Earned
$910.00
This donation drive ends in
0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds
  50.6%

Trending content

Featured content

Back
Top Bottom