Wendell_R
MyPTSD Pro
I know there are lots and lots of therapists switching to virtual sessions during the pandemic. I expect after this is over, virtual sessions will be popular, especially in under-served areas. But I also know that the idea of virtual sessions really scared me and doing the sessions has been a big challenge.
1. Have you made the transition? Is the idea of virtual sessions too frightening to switch?
2. What makes the sessions hard?
3. What has worked for you if you have made the switch?
Here are my thoughts.
1. Yes, I started with talking on the telephone, staying as Big Wendell. We talked about my fears and how to address them. Then we did just 10 minutes of video. We practiced turning off the video feed. Then we progressed to longer sessions.
2. I really need to read people to feel safe, and that means having them in front of me in person. I start to have untrue thoughts pop into my head. Seeing my therapist just over the screen, it somehow seemed that she had had sex with my teenage part, even though I know that's not true. I'm afraid I'll do something wrong and get in trouble. I feel lonely when there's not somebody really in front of me.
3. (Some of these ideas are from discussions in my Trauma Diary.) My therapist has my favorite objects on view in her office, and we begin by having her take the camera around the room to see those things. She sits fairly far away from the computer camera, so she looks the way she does in a normal session. I had to find a safe place to do the sessions, where I could be away from my family. I drive to a park and use my phone. The trees and nature in front of the car help me ground. We agree that if I say, "That's enough," it means we'll turn off the video. I make sure to bring grounding, physical items into the car, such as my journal book, water, favorite stuffed animal. I think I'll bring more little things. Interestingly, I've been paying her by mailing a check, and I wrap up the check in a piece of paper with one of my photos and a little note on it. Anything that helps connect the physical with the virtual.
I recently learned that my former therapist is growing her already huge practice and is expanding into virtual sessions. I would like to write up my experiences as a client with both PTSD and a dissociative disorder so that her therapists will have some idea of how to approach those of us for whom video is a big challenge. If you give permission, I would include your perspectives as well in my note to her (with no user names attached, but with attribution that these are not my ideas).
1. Have you made the transition? Is the idea of virtual sessions too frightening to switch?
2. What makes the sessions hard?
3. What has worked for you if you have made the switch?
Here are my thoughts.
1. Yes, I started with talking on the telephone, staying as Big Wendell. We talked about my fears and how to address them. Then we did just 10 minutes of video. We practiced turning off the video feed. Then we progressed to longer sessions.
2. I really need to read people to feel safe, and that means having them in front of me in person. I start to have untrue thoughts pop into my head. Seeing my therapist just over the screen, it somehow seemed that she had had sex with my teenage part, even though I know that's not true. I'm afraid I'll do something wrong and get in trouble. I feel lonely when there's not somebody really in front of me.
3. (Some of these ideas are from discussions in my Trauma Diary.) My therapist has my favorite objects on view in her office, and we begin by having her take the camera around the room to see those things. She sits fairly far away from the computer camera, so she looks the way she does in a normal session. I had to find a safe place to do the sessions, where I could be away from my family. I drive to a park and use my phone. The trees and nature in front of the car help me ground. We agree that if I say, "That's enough," it means we'll turn off the video. I make sure to bring grounding, physical items into the car, such as my journal book, water, favorite stuffed animal. I think I'll bring more little things. Interestingly, I've been paying her by mailing a check, and I wrap up the check in a piece of paper with one of my photos and a little note on it. Anything that helps connect the physical with the virtual.
I recently learned that my former therapist is growing her already huge practice and is expanding into virtual sessions. I would like to write up my experiences as a client with both PTSD and a dissociative disorder so that her therapists will have some idea of how to approach those of us for whom video is a big challenge. If you give permission, I would include your perspectives as well in my note to her (with no user names attached, but with attribution that these are not my ideas).