Therapy When Feeling Good

[GingerAli]

I have been seeing a new therapist for the past month and a half. It's been world's different from the last one. I think he was re-traumatizing me. I often left feeling triggered and reverted back to self harm behaviors I hadn't used in years. My problem is, I feel so good with this therapist that I don't know what to do.

How do you approach therapy when your feeling good? She has not started trauma work because I haven't been seeing her that long. Will I likely start to feel worse when that happens, or does this mean I should stop therapy? I don't know what to expect because things have been much different than they have been in the past. I would love people's input.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Yes, you will feel worse when you start to get into trauma work.

Don't quit therapy now. You may be experiencing an initial bounce, but that doesn't mean you are healed. If you haven't processed your trauma, things will likely get bad again (and if they don't, I'd go out on a limb and say that maybe this isn't PTSD if you can heal after just a few months with a therapist.)

And, since you've only been seeing her a short while, I'd say you've got a lot more learning to do in terms of tackling your coping skills, grounding skills and self-soothing (unless you covered all of this with previous therapists.)

 

[shiraz]

I am glad to hear that the therapist change has been so positive for you. A good therapist will stabilize you before attempting trauma work. It sounds like she might be doing this.

If you are not sure where your therapy journey is going, you can ask for a road map. This way you can be sure that she will eventually focus on trauma healing.

All the best, and enjoy the happy space.

 

[GingerAli]

Well poop. Thanks for the honesty. I figured I would likely feel bad again, but it's good to know this isn't weird. Part of my issues was my sleep was so bad it was messing with my head. Now that it's been sorted, I'm feeling better. I definitely have a lot of trauma history, so I have no doubt I have PTSD, but things were so bad because of the last terrible T, and because of really bad sleep. Now this feels like a cake-walk. But I know I need to keep in mind when I start sorting through my issues again, I may start to really struggle. But for now, I will "enjoy my happy space" LOL!
I've seen other T, but most did not have the training this one does, and some did things to really make things worse (as I mentioned, I think the last even re-traumatized me), so it's been different with this one because she really seems to know how to be careful with me and she's not triggering me. I even came in during a full blown episode and she handled me really well. So I think she's a good fit, I just have a hard time going to T when I feel like i'm doing good now, even if I know I won't later. I have some things that need to be worked through, things I've never talked about. And I'm hoping I will finally be able to with her.
Do you find it hard to work on things when you are feeling better and less triggered, or is it easier?

 

[shiraz]

I find that the easier times give me strength to deal with the hard work coming up. We all need a break from the journey every now and then - a little holiday of sorts to help us recover from life pressures and bad therapists, to help us renew our strength and gear up for the work to come and also to remind us that their will be happy spaces again :)

When you are feeling good, work on gaining skills; go over flashback recovery techniques again, do some body work, take self care seriously as when you are down, self care is easy to overlook. be kind to yourself, do the things you can't do when you are down. Cook some meals for the freezer, stock up on things you need for grounding. Cue up easy movies to watch later when you need distractions. Do those little jobs you just cannot manage when you are down ... that type of thing.

I am glad you are feeling so good!

Enjoy!

 

[PTSDbegone]

I understand. I've been there. I felt "good" back in November and stopped therapy and taking medication. I didn't think the medication was helping, and I thought I was coping much better and didn't require therapy any longer. It didn't last long. I was fine for a week or 2, and then started to go downhill again. This time I made sure to spend the time and find the right therapist.

I would recommend talking to your therapist about how you are feeling.

 

[Go Hungry]

I'm in agreement with the others, you should totally stick with the therapist. I've had some in the past which didn't help, but didn't really do any harm either. In some ways it was good, in others bad. So congrats on the good times. Don't take a few days or weeks of good times for granted though. Have some fun.

But also use the time to come up with a game plan for the future. If anything, use this time to educate yourself as thoroughly about PTSD symptoms as much as possible. Ask the therapist what sorts of things you can do to prepare for times to come. You'll be really glad you did later. :)

 

[GingerAli]

Well, the good times were short lived in afraid. I went I to therapy last week and told her I was feeling so good I didn't know what to do. And I guess she took that as a sign to "poke the bear" and get things going a bit. She still handled me well and I walked out doing much better than other times with past T. But it kind of set the stage for rough times this week. I'm hoping I can get in to see her today because this weekend has been rough, but that's doubtful. I'm really struggling with intense self loathing. Thank for all your replies.

 

[Sandstone]

How are you today?