Posted by NthnBrazil on October 6, 2006, at 5:19:53
Greetings all -
I originally posted this message on the newbie board and got some thoughts, but was encouraged to post here as well:
Looking for some help with questions about therapy since I'm new to it. Just to give you some info about me, I decided to start seeing a therapist because of constant anxiety over everything. I have been a "worryer" for years and just kind of carried on, but in the last year its gotten intense. I worry over my job, my house, my family, just everything.
Anyway, it finally got to a point where I decided I needed to talk to someone and with my wife's encouragement I found a therapist locally and have seen him twice now. The first meeting was mostly answering a bunch of standard questions and talking a little about myself, which I expected.
But in the second session he just kind of asked an open ended question and let me ramble. I would speak for a while and then we would be silent for a long time, nodding(felt like at least 30 seconds). Eventually he would make some comment like "that sounds like its a problem for you". So , taking his lead I would pick up the conversation again for a couple of minutes, and at the next break more silence & nodding. By the end of the session the only thing I got from him of any substance was "it sounds like you have difficulty self-soothing", which of course, I agreed with.
So here is my question: Is this what its going to be like the whole time or is this just sort of a get-to-know-you period at the beginning while he figures out where I'm coming from? Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect to get "fixed" in the first session, I just want to know what I'm in for.
Originally I was interested in a CBT or REBT approach which I had researched a little online, but after interviewing with the practice (its a group practice that's part of a hospital, so they have therapists of all kinds available) they assigned me to someone who uses a "psychodynamics" method. I looked into that online as well and saw its more of the traditional psycho-therapy style I would have imagined before hearing about CBT or REBT. Now I don't know if I should push to follow my first instinct and switch to a different therapist, or acknowledge that I don't really know how it works and just go with this guy. If it stays the same throughout I feel like I'm going to start having anxiety over getting therapy for my anxiety. . .
poster:NthnBrazil
thread:692320
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060926/msgs/692320.html