Posted by DaisyM on June 10, 2004, at 18:00:20
In reply to Therapeutic pressure, is it real? do u relate?, posted by bell_75 on June 10, 2004, at 7:55:09
"You seem stronger around this today. That is a good sign."
"I felt your excitement about your experience and I liked it."
Both of these statements were made by my Therapist in the past month. Both were about or during sessions when I *was* doing well. I told him (today in fact, good timing) that I keep hearing him say these things and I worry that he is getting frustrated at our pace. I told him I was working really, really hard to not let the stuff we are working on overwhelm me and take me back down. I even admitted to hiding some of how bad I've been feeling all week from him.
He went through the whole spiral analogy again, about how we go forward and then back again. And he expects that. He said he doesn't have a level of "progress" that he gages each session by...that it is overall progress that counts. And that he doesn't have a time line for therapy either...many people go years. He said his only frustration is about finding a way to convince me that he isn't frustrated!
I think what you are feeling is pretty normal. I think you have to ask yourself if the pressure is internal, not external. I also think that it is normal to have fears about termination, that simultaneously we want to "hurry up and get better" and also to be so much worse to prove we aren't ready to leave.
I think you should talk to him, regardless of the timing. It might surprise him to know that the level of progress you think he is seeing doesn't match yours. You might also find out that he doesn't think you are ready to leave yet. (how would that feel)?
poster:DaisyM
thread:355337
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040603/msgs/355532.html