Posted by mair on March 2, 2003, at 13:17:34
In reply to Re: My literal mind can't grasp this. » Dinah, posted by noa on March 1, 2003, at 22:49:22
What's happening to you when you go through an amygdala attack. (I've never heard of this before). When I sense danger usually because the topic is unsettling, I instantly feel anxious and I shut down, meaning that I can't hold onto any thought long enough to verbalize it. After I've left my therapist's office I have difficulty remembering what we discussed. It's like I've totally compartmentalized a traumatic discussion and once it's over it's very difficult to recreate what I was feeling or thinking.
Is this at all what you're describing?
My therapist would prefer that I just tell her that I can't discuss whatever it is that seems so traumatizing rather than just shutting down. She thinks we can discuss the emotional reaction I'm having more safely, and really the few times I've tried this, it's worked to a degree. We awkwardly talk "around" things rather than about them and sometimes I'm able to calm myself enough to see that there really is a way to discuss, at least on some level, whatever issue I'm so anxious to avoid.
Mair
poster:mair
thread:204842
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030203/msgs/205295.html