Posted by baseball55 on July 11, 2014, at 21:06:39
In reply to Re: Therapy felt so normal today! » baseball55, posted by Partlycloudy on July 11, 2014, at 10:17:11
> It's really important for you to feel supported in your decision. Your pdoc probably knows this. How are you feeling? And how is the DBT therapy going? Many people say it is a difficult modality.
> (Thanks for contributing to this thread. I really want this board to thrive!)Yeah. He's great about being validating and supportive. But he doesn't want to work with me on other issues, like my fear of being alone and tendency to go to the dark side. He'll listen to me talk about it a little, but then tell me that I need to work more on these things with the SW. There was a time when I was so dependent on him that it pained me and he felt he wasn't able to help me in therapy. He's okay with me still seeing him, but wants to be really clear about where the boundaries are. Which is good.
The DBT is helpful. She tries to help me experience dark emotions as passing episodes that I exacerbate by becoming fearful. She wants me to note where in my body I experience emotions and what thoughts they bring up, so I can separate the physical sensation (like choking up) from the psychic sensation (sadness) from the thoughts about the feeling (despair, this will never get better).
She also helps me develop coping skills and plan how to get through difficult periods instead of becoming fearful. Another DBT issue revolves around "interpersonal effectiveness" - learning to confront relationship issues in constructive ways, becoming more assertive and effective in getting what you need and want from people. For me, this is a big issue because I tend to not confront people when they treat me badly. This was a big problem with my husband. I let him mistreat me and blamed myself and got depressed rather than confronting him.
I never thought, when I started therapy for the first time in my life nine years ago, that I would still be seeing someone today. But I find it so useful. I love both my therapist and my p-doc. I respect them and value our relationships and never feel I'm wasting my time. And my insurance covers it....
poster:baseball55
thread:1068118
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20140702/msgs/1068198.html