Posted by Racer on May 22, 2004, at 14:56:26
In reply to Wrong therapy for depression?, posted by tabitha on May 22, 2004, at 12:35:47
Man, I can relate to what you're saying here, and what it seems you're experiencing, and since I just made a major decision about my own situation, I'm going to rant on and on about it to you about yours, 'K?
First of all, those articles saying it's "only negative rumination" are focussing on ONE aspect of a many-faceted phenomenon. The psychopharmacologists do the same thing in another way, for that matter. It's like the blind men and the elephant, the Cognitive folks say it's nothing more than the negative cognition. The guys handing out drugs say it's nothing more than brain chemistry. It's as if every group out there thinks it has the one true path to enlightenment, for everyone, at every time, and they turn their own belief systems into a quasi-religious dogma. Here's an alternate point of view, from someone else who suffers depression, gets caught up into negative ruminations, and is going to leave a voice mail quitting therapy this weekend:
How about it's some combination of ALL of those factors? Yes, I get caught in a rut of negative cognitions. Yes, I have unresolved pain from my past. Yes, I probably do need medication to help jump start my recovery from all this. So, who's right? Is the elephant like a rope, because that's what the tail feels like, or more like a tree, based on his legs? Or am I just an elephant who is like an elephant? Tree like legs, rope like tail, snake like trunk, and other elements that add up to an entire elephant which is much more than the sum of its parts? All the different groups have some portion of the truth, is what I'm saying, but they're being blinded to the WHOLE truth, which is that different individuals will benefit from different therapeutic models, and whether hte root cause of depression is the biochemical or the cognitive, they feed on one another and create a larger problem than either could create on its own.
From what you've posted here, both in this post and in the past, I'd say the problem with your therapy right now is that your therapist is not validating you. If you're not getting any outside validation, you can't validate yourself, and that erodes the whole trust dynamic.
Here's how I understand the whole 'childhood' model: through therapy, you express your subjective experience of distressing events and then PROCESS them, so that you can let go of the continuing distress. First of all, that means expressing yourself, and if your therapist is refusing to allow you to express what's happening NOW, what is she doing when you try to express what happened in your past? In order to express these things honestly, you have to feel safe in expressing your subjective experience, and you can't do that if someone is refusing to consider that subjective report because it *is* subjective. Does that make sense to you? If she won't let you say that you feel as though two members of the group don't like you, then she's certainly not going to be able to help you process that enough to reframe it. If you don't feel safe expressing to her the feeling that two members of that group don't like you, then you probably self-censor yourself in other ways, especially in the group. Self-validation and learning to reframe your negative cognitions for yourself are probably excellent goals for therapy. Self-censorship, on the other hand, is not an appropriate avenue to a successful therapeutic outcome.
In other words, I don't think the form of therapy is necessarily your problem right now. I don't believe that cognitive therapy is necessarily the right answer for your dilemma. Nor do I think that your perception that this isn't helpful for you right now is invalid.
Best luck, Tabitha. If you want to continue this discussion, or get any clarification (I know that I'm definitely impaired right now, it's hard to put thoughts into words, so ask anything I didn't make clear), please let me know. It's a subject of major interest to me right now, so I'm more than happy to continue.
poster:Racer
thread:349651
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040522/msgs/349679.html