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Positive And Neutral Flashbacks

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I relate very much to what you said, Abstract. And I find this totally spot-on:

they assume what one is saying is not really what one is saying

Even my therapist does that. That sometimes bothers me.

Hm... second thoughts... I wonder if I understood correctly... Do you mean that you said something and people didn't understand it because they couldn't relate so it couldn't be the way you said it? (I hope I'm not making this way too complicated. ;))

If you have PTSD, how would you know what is PTSD, what is "just human", what is personality? There is no way to look in from the outside... But those who are on the outside (other people), they do get things wrong! Then I tell them how it really is, from my view, subjective, naturally, and they dismiss it or look baffled because it seems so unbelievable... Don't know what smiley to put: confused, sad, desperate, crazy?
 
But those who are on the outside (other people), they do get things wrong!
I think you understood me correctly! It's only when people truly know what one is talking about that one can see that they are listening and understand. I find it is few people who can "hear" one properly when something is unusual without contorting ones experience to something they know.

When people do that repeatedly with something usual and difficult for me to discuss it makes me feel like I am loosing my head. And all those smilies together would apply!;)

And I find it very difficult when therapists do it too.
 
Agreed! It's most difficult for me when my therapist does it. She interprets into things, and sometimes I wonder if she understands that what may seem to be X from the outside looking in, really is Z from the inside looking out. :( Sometimes I wonder if she's scared about me being right (in the sense that I REALLY mean what I say)... Right now, an "I don't know - shake head - smiley" would come in handy. ;)
 
Here is to having the strength of will to keep telling our truths, to the same people repeatedly, or new, safe, people, until we get it right together and they understand us!!!
 
Sometimes I wonder if she's scared about me being right (in the sense that I REALLY mean what I say)
I really do get this. And its crazy making. I hope you can tell her that you feel she maybe doesnt want to just believe that you mean exactly what you are saying.

Before I thought that trauma was even a possibility and before all this stuff really fell out of the bag I saw a therapist for 5 years that in retrospect knew zero about trauma or dissociation. She was newly qualified and I know someone socially that did the same course that she did. Everything that came out of my mouth was Martian :alien:to her. It has taken a lot to even start being able to speak again. Especially since speaking in the first place was barely possible.

if she's scared
I do think this is sometimes the case and that they can't get their heads around it so they have to change what we said! :rolleyes:
 
I'm sorry you made that experience with your newly qualified therapist. It's so funny (actually, it's really sad) that they seem to think they're ready and equipped and "let's go", and then when it happens that they have someone with a (massive) abusive trauma history, reality seems to hit them hard.

In my case, I think, the whole things is a little different. She's a renouned trauma therapist and is well known in my city and has had a long waiting list. BUT: I was in therapy with her from around 2004 to 2006. Back then, it was solely about my child sexual abuse. By that time, I had not realized that basically everything in my childhood and teens was abusive (verbally, physically, emotionally). Of course, I knew, calling your own child names, just to give you one example, was not good and had hurt me every time she did, but for some reason I couldn't label it as "abusive". As I was surrounded by such people, those who did the same and those who stood by not doing anything or saying anything (but one person), I just learned that it was "normal". So, I already knew on some level it was very bad for me, my childhood and teens on a whole, but I would have NEVER thought about taking it to therapy. I thought it was something normal, everyone had to live with, so "get over it".

When I came back in 2011, I talked to her about all the other crap without giving her the causes, the facts of what happened in my childhood teens, i.e. I didn't mention my mother called me names, but I shared my deep pain about being treated so badly by my mother and others. So, only months ago did my therapist say something that made me wake up. She said that I had never told her anything about those other types of abuse, the causes for my pain. :wideeyes: I had not even noticed!

Then I had to write my trauma list and when I did a couple of weeks ago, she finally understood the extreme extent to what she was dealing with. Before that, I had told her various times that I broke down with things she expected me I could and should do but I couldn't. They were "brain" things, i.e. she seriously believed that I processed things happening (e.g. things talked about in therapy) in real time, which I never do! It takes me weeks (no kidding, no exaggerating) to process one therapy session, i.e. all that was being said, meant, the feelings it produced, the thoughts it produced... -- my response, so to speak. So, when I kept shut about things for weeks, she thought I had processed things and we could go on, as if I had been done and learned and next topic, please. Which was not the case. I told her the fact that it wasn't and all, but she didn't get it, from how I proceeded (e.g. talked about something new the next session). I insisted and insisted and she slowly opened up to the idea that what I was saying was exactly what I meant. I think though that until I gave her my trauma list and then got into telling her details when she asked (she asked a little more), she didn't get it. She gets it more now. Still, I think what she did and still does is rely more on her perceptions that on what I have been saying about me, about how I work and what things don't, etc.

I do realize things look/sound/seem/etc. different from the outside, but all I can say is, in order to help me most, she would have to believe "more" what I tell her, because it is my reality. Then again, I do see how I can come across as "depressed" (as in a diagnosis), but in my reality I am not generally depressed. Or rather: I have been like this always, it does not have a negative notion to it. It's just me. So what I say and what she perceives do not match, I do get that. It's difficult business...
 
So, I already knew on some level it was very bad for me, my childhood and teens on a whole, but I would have NEVER thought about taking it to therapy. I thought it was something normal, everyone had to live with, so "get over it".

I have that impulse a lot. In my first course of therapy, it was an incredible eye-opener to me to realize some of my 'normal' was not actually what everyone else went through. I still have the impulse to get over it, not act upset, and think I'm the one with the problem for having painful feelings around my family. Sheesh. But, that's what happens when we're not raised well and we don't have any sense of perspective, because our families are the most credible sources we have for learning what to expect from the world when we're so young.

she seriously believed that I processed things happening (e.g. things talked about in therapy) in real time, which I never do! It takes me weeks (no kidding, no exaggerating) to process one therapy session
I am the same way about big topics. I react and develop my response for weeks afterward sometimes. I've been telling her lately, my fear that I'm going too fast, and while I write long narratives for her, we discuss them and she reads them so quickly, that the dust never settles emotionally I think sometimes. It's easy to feel the push to move on, but... she told me her definition of therapy- telling our stories til we don't need to tell them anymore, so I try to give myself permission to revisit topics and explore them again as needed. It's hard though, definitely a work in progress.

I just wanted to thank you for your post- I can relate to so much of it. :)
 
From reading your post, Leah, I can see that you truly understand where I'm coming from. I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I am very grateful right now to have met someone who seems to be a lot like me in that respect. I often feel very alone being me. So, thank you.
 
Thanks Prime No. It is actually largely my fault I ended up with someone under qualified and inexperienced. I didn't "know" I was doing it but hid anything serious at my evaluation and I also did not "think" I had any trauma. I still spend most of my time thinking I made it up. Serious problems asking for help or trusting people.

In many ways I went about this from the opposite approach to you but with many similarities. I too did not see that stuffs importance. The undermining behaviour, the emotional cruelty, the lack of anyone being there for me. I would not have ended up in therapy if it had not been for my eating disorder. It does feel like normal if it is your normal.

I totally understand not thinking to speak about things in therapy and that causing a lot of disconnection with the therapist. A lot of that has been been to do with dissociation for me but others not.

She said that I had never told her anything about those other types of abuse, the causes for my pain. :wideeyes: I had not even noticed!
Good for her that she figured this out though! And it seems it started everything else falling into place for you. One step at a time.

It takes me weeks (no kidding, no exaggerating) to process one therapy session, i.e. all that was being said, meant, the feelings it produced, the thoughts it produced... -- my response, so to speak. So, when I kept shut about things for weeks, she thought I had processed things and we could go on, as if I had been done and learned and next topic, please.
We both may be on the "outside";) of each others experiences here but I will share just in case some of your stuff overlaps with mine.

This is the fundamental thing that totally messed with my head with that T and which it took me over four and half years to start to figure out. She could NOT understand that I could not process what happened in a session there and the week after. It has taken me as much as 6 months to be able to process something that happened in a session. Its like all the data is not available to me straight away. I don't feel the feelings in the session and only realise after if there are thoughts or reactions that belong to things that were said. Things don't click into place for ages. Its totally different to processing something on somewhere such as here (PTSD Forum). When I tried to explain it she could not understand any of it all.

but all I can say is, in order to help me most, she would have to believe "more" what I tell her, because it is my reality
I think that is wonderful that you have so much self awareness now. And I hope you can communicate this to her.

. So what I say and what she perceives do not match, I do get that. It's difficult business...
I am not sure if I am getting this part right or not. Is the depression relevant as it stops you from displaying the emotion you say you are feeling? Or is it something else?
 
Thanks Prime No! It is so very helpful beyond words when someone understands something isn't it? I am so glad for you that Leah also has the positive flashbacks and other stuff. Glad for you and glad for Leah. And glad for me that I get to speak to you both and relate to other things.
 
Everything that came out of my mouth was Martian :alien:to her.

I like to think I have a good grasp of the English language, and that I can write clearly. But I'm SO frustrated with my therapist right now, and a lot of what you've both said totally resonates.

I wrote her something, early this morning, about intrusive thoughts, how horrendous they are for me right now, and how in comparing my life to my daughter's, it makes me remember all kinds of things about my childhood and it's hard for me to remember anything normal without having a strong impulse to deny that any of the abuse even occurred. I wrote her even about early memories of using kissing to keep boys away from my friends and I, and about how I always viewed kissing, and still do, as something disgusting. I thought there was some insight in there, about how much I need help with the intrusive thoughts, and about how I'm seeing things in the past that I'd like to talk about. I said it made me cry and wonder what was wrong with me.

Her reply was that my tears were healing, nothing was wrong with me, and I'd get through the grief. I'm SOOOO mad, so frustrated... feel like she missed everything I said completely. It drives me crazy to try and communicate sometimes, and feel so misinterpreted. Do you ever think your therapist just placates you with stupid responses like that? Ha, it's how I feel atm. Like, I'm trying terribly hard to give her a roadmap to me, and all she can see is the stupid destination, have some grief, cry it out, voila, all better.
 
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