Experiences with Therapy

Post Reply New Topic

I was curious about how you would rate your experiences with therapy. I don’t want this to turn into a debate although people are free to state what their experience was like.

As a child my experiences were pretty bad, but once I became old enough to mange my own care, things improved. Therapy is like any other service, you have to do your homework to find one that is right for you, and you may have to compare prices, products, and services.

My first PhD trauma psychologist was incredible.
He was an old man whose family (including parents) was killed in a concentration camp.
He was there too as a very young boy.
He did his thesis on trauma related to captivity and war crimes.

I met him in hospital after my trauma.
We worked together for over ten years before he went senile.
He did unconventional things like meeting me in shopping malls for exposure therapy.

We used to dance to Little Richard at the end of our sessions.
He was my "Tuesdays with Morrie" type of hero.

I haven't been able to replace him.
Everyone else does CBT.
I just fired my most recent psychologist and decided I give up on finding a new one.

I am tired of CBT and would like to find something else. I really don’t think it’s ideal for trauma.

I’ll shop around.

In my experience it's not ideal for trauma OR for autism.

It teaches me to self-gaslight.

It's not like I can willingly outsmart my trauma or neurodivergence by self-talk.

It can feel a bit condescending in that respect.

Trauma is horrendous. Focusing on “thinking problems” is not ideal. It can feel like the elephant in the room is being completely ignored.

I don’t like the implication that I should change. Obviously, everyone should grow and improve, but it sort of seems like they are suggesting that the survivor is the problem here. I don’t mean that they actually think that, but it can appear that way.

It's a bunch of bull.

It's the cheapest, most brainless form of cookie-cutter therapy they can hurl at the general population.

They expect it to work for all issues.

It's such a load of crap I likely shouldn't let myself rant.

They gave me leaflets on how to breathe, ffs.
Mine wanted me to picture anxiety as a personified character so I could tell it to get lost.
They tell me to picture myself floating on a raft in a beautiful tropical setting.


Ummmm --
For one thing I have Aphantasia meaning I can't picture / visualise ANYTHING, and they knew that.
For another thing, I would hate being outside on a raft because I have Agoraphobia, Scophophobia, and Photophobia.

They know this because I've been with them for two years.

Oh gee, I didn't realise I could tell my anxiety to get lost.
I hadn't thought of that before.
I'm diagnosed 99th+ percentile GAD and CPTSD.

I'd love to see that woman walk a day in my shoes, living my life.
Even five minutes would be pretty funny.

That's why I call it self-gaslighting.
The premise is that you're supposed to outsmart trauma.

CBT practitioners have lost their marbles.

CPTSD is hardwired.
It's a permanent change of the brain which can't be undone.
Of course we can learn coping strategies but they don't involve cognition.

Blaming our "cognitive behaviour" is a recipe for disaster.
We will always fail if we use CBT.
We already have issues with self-concept, guilt, and shame.
Those are the defining features of CPTSD.
We don't need more proof that we can't do it, or aren't good enough.

It can get a bit murky here as far as what’s self-gaslighting and what’s just plain old gaslighting.

Very good point.

See if you can find a PTSD Occupational Therapist.
They're really helpful in constructive, day-to-day coping strategies.

I doubt I could find one of those in my area. I mostly just want to find someone that I can feel comfortable talking to. I don’t want to learn coping strategies. I have a huge number of coping strategies.

That's good to know.

It's really hard finding anyone to confide in.

Having coping strategies and actually finding them useful are two separate things.

I just don’t find anything useful when I’m going through a crisis or having nonstop flashbacks.

That irritates me in therapy sometimes. It’s almost as bad as the correcting “thinking problems” nonsense.

I have to agree with you there, too.

I have a whole arsenal.

Good luck for me ever using them.

The only thing that has helped since parting with my good therapist has been time.

I have had 36 counselors, including trained volunteers

Some of them, only one session

The longest was, once every other week for two years

Some counselors were great.

Some counselors were bad.

Some counselors were condescending

Counseling is like saturated fat. There's a quota and a limit

Counseling is like eating. If you don't eat, you will drop dead. However sooner or later everyone will drop dead. Not all food is nutritious, worth the financial cost, or hygienic

Then, some foods are so bad for you, that you would be healthier if you did not eat it

But the vast majority of the counseling was just smoke and mirrors

Indulgent

What comes after ("How does that make you feel?".)

Almost all counselors acted so dramatic