Self Help Therapy

[screen-name]

I am not sure if this should be here or in relationships but I think here makes more sense.

My sister and I are close in age and grew up with the same crazy mother. I have been talking with her about my therapy lately and encouraging her to go for herself. In our talks we've realized that we each have some of the others missing memories. Like when I only remember part of something, she has the rest of the story and vice versa.

We've decided to schedule talks and focus on topics that bother us. I think this will be helpful for processing but also allow me to give my therapist more information. Hopefully that will help the sessions.

I'm excited about this idea, which is good because I've felt really hopeless, angry, and sad lately. My sister and I have a good relationship. We talk daily and live within minutes of each other. I love you her very much and feel safe with her. She has a psychology degree.

Can anyone think of a reason that this may be a really bad move?

 

[watundah]

That sounds great. I think youre quite fortunate to have a loving and supportive sibling whom you can work with.

 

[Silver.]

I think it's great to have someone fill in the gaps for you. My sister will often tell me a story, I will be cracking up and she will say "you don't remember at all do you". But she's older than me, so it's been really helpful to see things from her perspective.
I think this is a great idea for you two, keep a notebook, so you can write down things you want to talk about, things you have talked about, chart your progress etc. Good idea :)

 

[screen-name]

Ok. thanks for the answers. I am hoping it helps both of us. I just didn't want to move forward if someone had an experience where this went really badly or at least we could add some safe guards.

 

[Teamwork]

You sound like you are in the right place now to do this. My sister has just recently had surgery and is off work, hence has time to call me. The things we talk about are quite distressing for me and I often wish she wouldn't bring things up but feel powerless to ask her not to. We are quite close in age and do not remember the same things, so in that respect we both hear how it was for us. I'm in therapy, she isn't. She leans on me for correcting faulty thinking or for deciding what things meant for us. I find it all to be very draining, triggering and debilitating for a day or so after a call from her. That being said, I don't hear that from you. You sound motivated and in charge of this and I think that is why this may work very well for you.