i went to a therapy session today

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Nothing much happened this time because it was the first session, but I just wanted all those people that have been telling me to go to therapy sessions for some time now that I'm starting this up, so stop bugging me about it.

Good for you, Toad.....good for you.

I don't want to make much of it, so you won't be embarassed and think I am heckling you or anything. . .

Merle

Oh cool, let us know if it helps you out.

Just wanted to drop a line to voice my support for you too, ToS!

Ditto!

I also wanna say that, although we've bickered a bit, I respect that you've been forthright and consistent about saying what you think, and having a thick enough skin to put up with us bein on your back, and not dismissing us entirely despite disagreeing. I really respect that. That's a certain quality that'll take you far, IMO.

Sadly, counseling can take a lot of friggin time, and it's not even a surefire route to success.... You never know if an individual therapist will get 'on the wavelength' with you or not. But it's still extremely valuable, as the end result changes lives for the better.
*sigh* I'm still hoping that my own counseling help spurn me to make the changes I need.... Still waiting...

I really hope you get some benefit out of it.

Good on you for taking the first step to improvement.

Thumbs up

It takes a while but it can help. I've been there and done that (with different issues) and it can help so long as you click with the therapist. (If you don't click you will know soon enough and can try somebody else.)

Toad if this is what you want to do, good on you.

From personal experience it might take a bit of time for both of you to get comfortable the each other. It took a year with me to really open up. However I was totally isolated and in a very bad way mentally. As it turns out it was worth it, and she helped me loads. Actually the very first person I went to felt that she wasn’t qualified enough to help me, and I really appreciate that person’s honesty, because otherwise I wouldn't have met my ex-shrink. Well I say ex-shrink I may be using her again for the first time in years, but not for anything to do with social/anxiety/relationships but to something do with my cognitive dysfunction. Simply because I found her reliable. She doesn't think she is knowledgeable enough in that field which is why I want he to work with a neuropsychiatrist.

So I would give them a benefit of the doubt for some months. Unless you see some warning signs like unwillingness to talk about what they do. Generally it is good to have a mixture of practical as well as talking. If you are just no comfortable with people in general, then give it a go you can always mention that you are not feeling comfortable.

Usually they get you to sign something that mentions confidentiality or whatnot, and what would happen if you wish you harm yourself or others. This is just a standard thing that they do. Actually confidentially isn't everything a purist CBT practitioner might not operate like that because to them transparency and recording success rates is integral to what they do, but there are still won’t be releasing identifying information because that would be against the law and not necessary. On the other hand I don't want to plug CBT too much because it does need you have a clear idea of the particular problem you want focus on. So it is worth taking a holistic approach until you have a clear idea of the specific problems. My ex-shrink isn’t a CBT person, she just told me where to access information on it. She knew that I'm very practical minded and would be able to work it out myself given time.

Also don't treat this as just a love and dating issue. That is one goal, but there are usually lot of issues involved.