Posted by pegasus on February 17, 2011, at 14:20:13
In reply to Re: Thanks for asking » Annabelle Smith, posted by sassyfrancesca on February 17, 2011, at 13:27:40
I agree with sassyfrancesca. Maybe if you find a way to make therapy seem smaller, it won't feel so overwhelming.
I know that you feel really pressed for time. And that must make it feel that you need to pack as much as possible into every session. And yet, that is clearly not working for you. I've been there in my own therapy too, and it didn't work for me either. In fact, having all that pressure on one session made it really, really hard. I always felt like I'd failed at bringing in what I'd wanted to.
If you can choose just one thing that is the top priority for each session, then the problem of preparing becomes more a question of prioritization. That is not as scary (to me at least) as trying (and potentially failing) to get as many needs met as feel important overall.
That is certainly how I do my therapy now. I think about what one thing I want to be sure to talk about. Then if we manage to talk about that, I feel like it was a good session. And often we then talk about other related things, which turn out to be just as important, even though they didn't come to mind before the session. And if we exhaust my one topic before the end of the session, then I get to talk about inconsequential things, which sometimes ends up building our relationship in a really profound way.
- Peg
poster:pegasus
thread:979368
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20110206/msgs/979462.html