How do I communicate with therapist about this?

Post Reply New Topic

How do I tell her my thinking isn't distorted? She has said verbatim that my 'thinking is distorted' on several occasions. I don't want to make her an adversary.

"Correcting distorted thinking" is the entire focus of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), which is the most common type of therapy out there. Your therapist assumes that your distorted thinking is your reason for being in therapy.

If you don't believe that you have distorted thinking, then you need to find a different therapist who doesn't practice CBT. Or you could first try to talk to this one about it, and explain that that isn't what you're looking for.

I know that for myself, CBT has been unhelpful and even harmful, because, like you, I know that my thinking is not distorted. I am just trying to cope with things as I know them to be.

My feeling is you need to stop thinking you are obligated to go back to this therapist. Look at it this way: if you took your car to a garage for a specific problem and they didn't fix it, you wouldn't think twice about going to another garage. You need to feel the same way about yourself. Your feelings are yours and have VALIDITY.

I think you need to bring it up directly, but in a non-confrontational way. For example, say "I don't feel that my thinking is distorted, can you explain what makes you say that?"

I think it is quite likely that you have different meanings of what distorted thinking is and what it means.

I would not just change therapists unless there is also another problem, or you are not happy with the answer to the question.