Posted by fallsfall on June 15, 2006, at 8:15:38
In reply to psychology- why not? SI and alchohol. trigger?, posted by llrrrpp on June 14, 2006, at 20:52:43
It is a fight to keep from slipping into the depression - but a fight worth fighting. It is easier to fight to stay out of it (by distracting - like you are doing), than it is to climb out if you fall in.
It is much like a diet, or an addiction. My therapist told me that I was addicted to depression. But like a diet or addiction, you will have moments when you do better and moments when you don't do better. The goal is to increase the moments you do better. So don't beat yourself up about your slips.
Try to see if you can replace your actions (slapping, cutting) by words. See if you can put into words what makes you want to do those things. This is very hard. Sometimes I find it easier to draw (and I would not win the 2nd grade drawing contest!). Sometimes it is easier to express non-verbally. If you can figure out how to express what is eating at you, then you may find it easier not to act on it.
That's a long time to not see your therapist at this stage. Can she give you the name of someone else who you can see when she isn't around? It isn't the same, but I have found it better than nothing. And check into Camp Comfort. It is there not only to console those of us who are helplessly dependent on our therapists, but also there to help those of us who need their advice.
Distraction seems like a cheating way out - but it really is a valid technique. Not only does it push the dark thoughts away, but it gives you the chance to experience GOOD moments. Those good moments provide their own chemical feel-good-ness. So they can be healing in their own right. It can feel very artificial to keep pushing yourself do to "fun" things when all you want to do is disappear into the pit, but it is a valid and helpful thing to do.
(((llrrrpp)))
poster:fallsfall
thread:657075
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060615/msgs/657184.html