When Is It Time To Stop Therapy? (when Are You Fixed?)

[Scandinavgirl]

I`ve been in therapy for like 10 months. But I have only been there once a month, sometimes twice - I simply can not afford more, even though my therapist has made an reduced price.

In the beginning I felt like it was not enough - I was struggling and I was in some sort of crisis. I felt depended on my therapist and I was so worried about myself.

The last 3 og 4 months though, I think it has been suitable to come in once a month. But I have also felt more resistance about therapy. From mostly talking about my trauma we now talk about my problems with self-esteem, my thinking, my inner voice etc.
Its helping - I am feeling better and stronger.

Last session I finally told him a specific "thinking problem" I have - I "hear" "others thoughts" in my head. I don`t believe I can hear others thoughts, but it is still confusing, and it is almost always negative thoughts about me I hear. He took it nicely and said it was pretty common to have these sort of thoughts - I was so relieved.
We are going to work on this some more next session, but when we have worked this through - are we done?


I have other intrusive thoughts of self-harm and violence I could bring up, but I keep thinking: Is it serious enough? I don`t do self-harm, I am not suicidal. These are just thoughts, and they are not constant. I also fear there is something sexual related I need to work on, due to feelings and thoughts about sexual abuse in childhood. But I cant bring this up unless I have some real memories.


I guess I can never be completely fixed - everyone has problems. What is useful to work on, what is not? I cant stay in therapy forever. Does this problem sound familiar to any of you?

How do you know when you have done enough work?

 

[scout86]

How do you know when you have done enough work?

That's probably a good topic to discuss with your therapist.

All of those things that you wonder if they're serious enough to talk about? If they concern you, they're serious enough to talk about. The fact that you are wondering suggests It would pay to at least bring it up. What's useful to work on is anything you'd like to work on. Any area of your life you're not satisfied with.

Beyond that, I can tell you that there's been a couple times when I thought, "This isn't a problem, I've got it handled" and I was wrong. It's easy to find excuses to quit and avoid dealing with things. It's easy to fool yourself. I suspect that, when you're ready to quit, you probably know it, but I'm not there yet, so I'm not sure.