Posted by Pfinstegg on May 25, 2004, at 22:26:37
In reply to Re: Therapy today » Pfinstegg, posted by DaisyM on May 25, 2004, at 15:05:29
Hi Daisy...actually, we do it in clumps, too, and I don't know what's going to happen when. But, as I get used to the child selves, we (analyst and me) kind of know together what needs doing, and so we try to address it every time; sometimes we just go over stuff we've already talked about, which even so brings on very powerful feelings, which we can work on. Then suddenly new stuff comes flooding out. Some just did today, and I feel so much better, for now.
I do journal a lot, and I do use the different parts, either talking to one another, or to him. I seem to have an infant self, who did not in fact have a mother, so her feelings are mainly of loneliness and longing. Then there is a six-year old girl who was physically and sexually abused by her father; her feelings are principally fear, rage and shame. My analyst asks me to write things "just for him", and I do that a lot, too. That really helps, as i can write things I might not say, and then we can get them into the dialogue. He emphasizes that he wants all the parts to trust him enough to talk freely, and when he feels a particular one is speaking to him, he will speak directly to her, just like yours does. I've got quite a long way to go, however. The adult part trusts him completely (and also likes him a lot!), but the child selves are still very suspicious and wary. With us, there is almost never any phoning, as I have the idea that is for real emergencies, such as getting hospitalized. He actually prefers treating people with the most serious problems, so I assume he has a lot who are suicidal. He says that he checks his phone every half hour, after hours, so I know he is available.
When I write this down, I wonder how I ever managed to grow up, marry a great guy, go to grad school, have a carreer I really liked, and also have a wonderful son. I guess the answer is dissociation! For some reason, my defences came crashing down
several years ago, and all of this is causing me much more distress than it did previously, when I think I was mainly intent on NOT thinking about any of it.It's a tremendous help and support to me to hear what you have to say about your therapy, as we seem to be dealing with very similiar things. I also appreciated your book suggestions, and ordered one of them.
poster:Pfinstegg
thread:349340
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040522/msgs/350621.html