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Therapy Reevaluation

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I don't think I can safely do trauma work on my own more than I have already.
So then Abstract, can you go in with an agenda of your own and leave the trauma out of it? Sounds goofy but I know that I ended up employing a couple of therapists to straight up help me learn how to be nice to myself. I wonder if directing a person to stand with you while you attempt to move towards self compassion would be a good foundational piece for you to start with.

Totally don't worry if that suggestion doesn't hit the mark at all.

Also, I am with you when you say you see older age looming and that that ups the ante. I think about that very often. It has been one of the driving forces for my determination in getting proper tools under my belt for the anticipated good times coming. :-(
 
one area I was a bit adamant and I lately learned the theory behind it was I asked the therapist if I could use the space between us rather than directly at him. In essence, I was asking him not to take me personally if I lose it and give me that safe space so I can find myself.

But unfortunately he interjected himself into my story many times by making my transference about him. I found this part of therapy the most perplexing. I think in theory there is reality and trauma (not in reality based but past based) and most therapist will not allow anyone who can be rapidly in between - both reality and trauma at the same time. They just would not and my experience was exactly that. I know I am in trauma and in transference but I also wanted to see how far this feeling would go and the therapist was like how are you feeling about me in this and that? and I was like aurghgggggggggg. I respect you dude. You are not representing anyone in my past. I am like a snake eating my own tail in my transference. I go back there and I do not exist...only my mother exist and I have become a parasite on her and I need to explore this eating my own tail - me, my mother back then, my self not existing, and my mother today and me today...it is insane in my head but let me battle out and then maybe I will relate to you when I am a bit more cohesive first.

Nope theory does not allow that. The only therapy theory that came to close to this was Gestalt but they also do not allow much of transference. I truly hate theories because I do not think human psyche is that defined strictly.

I am sharing this with you because you will need to have a great motivation to be able to manage yourself and therapist in order to move forward. Trusting a therapist is not required but respecting them and telling them they are there to give you an anchor is important so they do not interrupt your own exploration.

This may sound a but juju but it has been my experience. Also I think at the beginning Abstract, if you can afford, have a therapist and a group in order to share your experience in more than one way.

It is not an easy journey but do not worry the future too much. sure things can be harder, same or better...who knows already you are here this far and you are doing as good as you can.
 
I can't contemplate dealing with trauma in therapy at present but am considering the possibility of working through some of the lessor stuff, self care, attachment issues and talking through the ptsd symptoms. I work best when deal with the first step and forget about any other possible ones if am overwhelmed by considering the alternative. I would however like to look at the bigger picture here though. Opinions of what I should be doing long term.
I think this is a good plan.
I also think this can open the door to actually be able to talk about trauma.
It's actually the correct way of doing trauma work, deal with the symptoms first and skills to manage it instead of diving right in with no oxygen mask available.

The big picture in my opinion is that by looking into attachment issues and symptoms, you'll have to deal with a good amount of memories and realizations concerning your's and other's behaviors in your life.

I think the best approach is possibly go in with a mind willing to learn new tricks in how to handle life, instead of thinking we should be facing our dark pasts. It's been working for me at least. Not sure if you followed my issues with therapists, but it's very similar to yours.

Best of luck, Abstract! You're a very insightful and brave person.
 
I saw one therapist to work on mindfulness. I already knew how to do mindfulness, the real goal was to try to be able to show up in therapy with another human. No trauma talk was the boundary that I requested. We spent months together just talking about the here and now. It helped a lot. It gave me positive associations with therapy. Eventually we did do trauma work because it clicked well. But that wasn’t the original plan.

Picking one area to work on might help with navigating therapy overall. Attachment may easy go into trauma, but perhaps interpersonal skills for work can give something to work on, without absolutely having to jump into the trauma.
 
Hi @shimmerz Thank you! Yes am open to that idea. In truth if I look at what I really need at this point its:
a witness. Doing and experiencing everything alone isn't healthy for human beings. It seems.
an expert: I only know so much and have made mistakes therapising myself. Its been way better than most of the therapists I had but still not ideal. I need someone to have a look over the big picture and give me input. With me not at me.
A model for acceptance of me. I don't have one in my life, externally or internally.
A place to process human receiving help and support. Being seen and heard.
A safe person to navigate trauma processing.
For goodness sakes, just someone who can facilitate me speaking in a help environment. That will be a success.

Shimmerz the old age thing is freaking me out. Not indulging those fears but they are there and are motivating. Sorry you are there too. The whole idea of possibly being unable to be independant and be reliant on possibly unsafe people whilst dealing with physically triggering difficulties or procedures is ... not great. I don't want my PTSD symptoms rearing up at that point. Choking or things obstructing my airways is one thing. I really need to do more work on that. Thanks for the kind words.
 
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Hi @grit thanks so much.
If I am understanding correctly your t was actively trying to discuss transference (in terms of him) when it wasn't a factor. He essentially was putting his own stuff into the therapy session. Countertransference. You were just trying to get on with therapy. Past and present co occurring and you trying find yourself in it all. Swimming through reliving and trying to get a hold of that. He wasn't able to keep therapy about you and your story. You knowing your experiences are about you. Not sure if I have that right or not.

I definitely don't want to fall into debate in therapy if I can avoid it. Been there and done that. Another reason I may actually be ready for something different this time. I am so tired of the way I have been.

Sadly definitely cant do group at present. One to one is the first step for me. Thanks for the words of encouragement.
 
Hi @Sietz Thank you!
I definitely relate to some of the stuff you have been dealing with in therapy and your thoughts about what you don't want and do want. Its helpful when I relate to others experiences so thank you.
I absolutely cannot tolerate another therapist telling me what I feel or think, overriding my voice. That they know it better than I do. Would not survive that and stay sane. Or not seeing therapy as a team venture rather than them fixing me. I am the only person with access to my brain and that connection is still a bit tenuous. When I feel under threat it gets more so. Very open to input of course and dont want them just sitting there doing yes sounds.

Also like you can no longer tolerate being in therapy with someone who doesnt understand trauma symptoms and what to do with them. Had those who had no idea what was happening even when it practically bit them on the nose. Last t did know and it made the world of difference. Unfortunately she absolutely did not allow the stabilising first before going into trauma part and rushed right in there. Not totally her fault in truth as she was working for the charity and the treatment time limited. She wanted me to get some processing in there before I was kicked to the curb. But she shouldn't have done what she did. Better to do just a little than almost kill someone by pushing it through. Pushing to talk trauma when the client is so dissociated that they can only speak a sentence in an hour is not wise. In retrospect. And I don't have a history of knowing my limits. No self compassion either.

I have no doubt that anything and everything at this stage is going to lead back to trauma and I guess it is about managing that. First not going there and then later do? Think so. Thanks so much for the kind words. Shall attempt to accept them.
 
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Not totally her fault in truth as she was working for the charity and the treatment time limited. She wanted me to get some processing in there before I was kicked to the curb.
This is a more common problem than one might think. Here in Canada anyway. And you are right, it is absolutely wrong. The damage that it can and does do would have you shaking your head in disgust.

Funding. Such a counterproductive word when it comes to trauma. Ripping a person open in 14 sessions or less to cut them off is one of the more heartless things I have seen. And it is common here.
 
Hi @grit thanks so much.
If I am understanding correctly your t was actively trying to discuss transference (in terms of him) when it wasn't a factor. He essentially was putting his own stuff into the therapy session. Countertransference. You were just trying to get on with therapy. Past and present co occurring and you trying find yourself in it all. Swimming through reliving and trying to get a hold of that. He wasn't able to keep therapy about you and your story. You knowing your experiences are about you. Not sure if I have that right or not.

Yes Abstract. Thank you for translating it for me into more understandable form. Yes. That is exactly what I meant.

However I will add every single relationship in the world will have some debate, misunderstanding, frustration and therapy relationship is no different- I actually thing this why therapy works. it is the only relationship where things do not supposed to blow up like explosion but work through to learn what I did not learn from my parents - like soothing, mentalizing and truly being connected to a person I do not like at the moment and be OK. Every thing that happens between two people has the power to break it or make it. So you are right the debate was not necessary but I put my foot down to ask him what I wanted and he retreated and we are now in a much better place. I guess he and many other therapists can take different approach but that is why I chose psychodynamic- psychotherapy - where the client is the driver of the treatment.

The way I put meaning to this in my life is: My mother did not give me space and intruded upon me whether to change my full soiled diaper, feed me when I was not hungry cause she had time or not feed me and put me to sleep or left me or whatever else that caused me to dissociate at an early age..my mom's debate was intrusion and impingement on my own little baby life and that created some of the serious issues I am dealing with today in therapy. But in therapy, I am not a baby so even though I may fall back to that pattern set by my mother, I have other humanly things since babyhood today - my own cognition, my own experiences with emotions and my own self agency. So when the therapist, inadvertently, acted like my mother, this time, I had a saying how this experience should turn out. and I was not about to run or hide or dissociate though all these could also result.

Of course, also other things could go wrong. The therapist experience could remind me so much of my past and I could choose to dissociate again in the therapy room. It worked before and it may as well work again. I could be so frustrated and walk out because I can do that today but I could not when I was a baby. There are many ways to do it.

There is an element of luck and mystery in the world about human relationships.

For whatever it is worth it, my experience in the incidents I shared was like re-tramatization. I was beyond transference...I felt into deep depression and felt I was regressing but I chose to speak up because I have had life as an adult where I could speak up (this part I earned by living for so long) and when I spoke up, the therapist for whatever reason (maybe his temperament), listened to me and left me alone unless again I call upon him. This was an absolute amazing human connection I could ever ask for!

It is really hard to articulate but he respected my journey and exploring my own feelings in those dark moments with him present and I have come through it and did not dissociate, did not go into psychosis and actually felt for the first time, wow! I can see how hard this was for me when I was this small. a baby could not handle this much frustration. and I started to break down and have extreme empathy and compassion how hard I fought for my life when I just arrived here.

It was a powerful experience for me but yes it was also the most gut-wrenching 6 months of my life.

Thank you again for clarifying my earlier comments. You wrote them down much better. I can be a bit of blahahahah writer.
 
Thank you @Justmehere ! Appreciate your thoughts.
Yes, I understand the concept of knowing how to do something yet starting therapy around it just to show up in therapy with another human being hearing and seeing me. That is exactly what I am thinking of doing. In truth I have a lot of skills. I can certainly gain more but its the whole being in therapy that I need to get to grips with. I guess it is essentially partly doing work on trust. I need to be able to do therapy if I want to process the trauma in the future. I am also starting to suspect it in itself could be helpful to me. Interpersonal trauma seems to damage something that is related to being human for want of a better word. I have had moments where I have not spoken about trauma but human connection in the context of support has felt like I have processed some aspect of trauma regardless. Not expressing that well. That may either sound off centre to people or be obvious to them. I'm not sure. The parts of skills/understanding/work that I still need to do are almost all related to trauma. By the time I ended up with a diagnoses and a proper trauma therapist I had descended into a state of no speech so input in this regard is missing in my therapy history. Poor therapy related to trauma before that.

I will definitely request no trauma to start. What you describe is exactly the plan I had in mind. Its good to hear it worked for you.

Its also good to have spoken this through here as I certainly don't want to get sucked into academic attachment conversations in therapy when I start. I won't be going in saying I want to talk about attachment. In fact that would probably also freak me out so much the person would never see me again. Discussing concepts will of course be useful at times but I really want to try not to get sucked into obsessive intellectualising this time. I don't need that. I have done it to death. I find myself less needing to do it in my life in general. Was looking back at some of my old posts on here and I remembered what that felt like internally. The desperate desire to quantify, package, check, distance everything. I will always automatically have a strong logic function and an eye on theory but I don't want to indulge it at the expense of other things. She says now from the comfort of her sofa.

I thought of finding someone who is an integrative trauma therapist. Someone with a bit of DBT or mindfulness. I also have some impending family stuff that could pretty messy and would mean I need to have more support. Thanks again for the input.
 
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