Posted by Anna Laura on June 22, 2001, at 3:29:31
In reply to Anna Laura -Intelligence and therapy resistant, posted by JennyR on June 18, 2001, at 17:13:03
> I responded to part of your answer to Glenn, but somehow, it disappeared or never really "took." So here it is again.
> Anyway, the part about being intelligent making it hard for "talk therapy" to work because you can see through the theories- I don't agree with that and would like to tell you why.
> I thought that at one time, but it has not been the case at all.
> I, too, am not trying to brag, only make a point. As a kid they skipped me from 3rd to 5th grade because of an 11th grade reading level and a 9th grade math level. Most endeavors have come easily to me. I have a graduate degree, was always an A student, etc. So I think statistically, I'd be considered a rather intelligent person. And particularly with degrees in the field, I certainly know the theories. Here's my point - it's the relationship that matters in therapy. I have a wonderful warm therapist who I've been able to make a strong connection with, and that's what makes it work. When you feel heard like never before, understood like never before, empathized with out of real warmth, that's what makes for a really successful therapy experience. It's not about intelligence or lack of it, it's about emotional connection. I think intelligence has helped because it allows one to reach insights, by putting different fragments together, seeing connections between things, that someone not too swift would have a harder time doing. I don't see intelligence or knowledge of theories as a hindrance at all. I think you either really click with a particular therapist, or you don't. Maybe you haven't found the right one.
> I think medications can be important, it is for me, and what you say about your own creativity and building the right foundation too, but I also think therapy is the best gift I ever gave myself.
> >
> >
> > Hi Glenn, Hi All,
> >
> > This is my first post on Social Babble (i've been posting on Psycho Babble only).
> > First, my usual premise: english it's not my language, i'm posting from Europe, so pardon me if i make mistakes.
> >
> > Glenn,
> >
> >
> > I'm really sorry you've been suffering so much .I feel lucky compared to you: at least i tasted life until i was 21 years old (i'm 32 right now).
> > I think changing cognitive patterns plays a role, a big role for someone, a little one for others.
> > For some of depressed people it's really the key to overcome the disease.
> > I remember i read on The Becks' book on Cognitive Therapy about a woman who has been suffering from major depression for a looong time (throughout her adult life) who got cured with cognitive therapy (basically it's about thinking yourself out of depression, changing old thinking habits and so on).
> > But some of us are not responding to that. I think that the solutions/possibilities are unlimited and countless, every one of us has to find a personal solution that fits his/her state of mind i guess. As far as i am concerned, it works only when i'm mildly depressed.
> > Last Summer i succeeded in thinking myself out of depression and took a huge "cognitive jump".
> > How i managed to do that it's really too long to tell. Well, i was still depressed but it was like my "mental visual " grew wider and wider, do you know what i mean? It was like having been living inside a small cell/box and coming out in the huge wide world all of a sudden. It was shocking 'cause i wasn't prepared for the experience. I felt like all of my skin was peeled off, ultra-sensitive and scared as hell. Thought i was getting crazy: my basic, obsessive thought was: "if i can get myself out of depression i can go crazy as well".
> > Depression was like a kind a heavy but somehow comfortable blanket i've been wearing for so long that i felt like i was naked and vulnerable without it.
> > I felt like if i was to continue on that route, things would have changed, but i couldn't keep that state of mind for long: i've been fighting with my partner all the summer through (saw me changed, thought i was going to dump him). The result was that i faced major stress while i was vulnerable and defenceless so that i had second bout of depression the following Autumn. When i was major depressed, cognitive thinking didn't help me at all. The life-saver was Tofranil which dragged me out of that horrible state of mind.
> > I know i'm going to sound too proud, but since you mentioned intelligence as a counterproductive factor, i feel justified talking about that also.
> > I'm not trying to boast myself, sorry if it's going to sound like that : hope you're not going to hate me now....
> > I swear it's the bare truth: my intelligence kind of prevented me from healing/getting cured.
> > The bad thing about depression is that the more intelligent you are, the least you're susceptible of getting cured by talk-therapies; this is my personal opinion so far.
> > I think most of us on this board have the same problem.
> > I've scored a high IQ also and i often had problems with all kind of therapies: it was like i was seeing trough the underlying basic theories, so that everything got unfolded and i felt like i was being mocked (difficult to explain i hope you know what i mean).
> > Back in 1990 i took Rorschach psychological testing that confirmed my "resistence" to therapies due to my intelligence. Please, don't think i'm boasting myself a genius, i wish i wasn't intelligent because i'm sure i'd been cured by now.
> > There's a positive thing about being intelligent though: it's creative-self-therapy: it's about finding a personal way out of the labyrinth with your creative intelligence, a tailored solution for you only.
> > I've been experiencing that, but again, i got scared as hell. I guess it was because i wasn't prepared.
> > If you pardon me the weird analogy, it was like building the roof without laying the foundations.
> > The foundations are social life, work, hobbies, sex and so on. I realize it's very hard but my personal opinion it's the first thing to do as soon as one gest better enough to do things.It sounds obvious, but it works.
> > I'm aware it's such an effort, but i think it's the first line of the agenda, top of the list thing.
> > (Of course you can't do that if you're too much depressed, you should be thinking about finding the right med then).
> >
> >Hi Jerry
A warm and caring pdoc saved my life years back (1993) while i was psychotic and driving totally insane. I believe that the emotional factor within a therapeutic relationship is essential.
In my previous mail i just wanted to pin-point the counterproductive factors of being intelligent, since Glenn brought up the issue of being intelligent and depression resistant. I'm aware there are positive sides of the issue also.
I know it's going to sound weird but another reason for me answering that way (being somehow "excessive") is that i somehow need to underline certain aspects of an issue in order to assimilate it. I.E. : when i was a child learning a new word i always reported it in my talks over and over again in order assimilate it.
I'm currently doing the same thing; that's why some of my mails sound so different in perspective : it's like i need to jump from a view-point to another in order to "absorb" them. It might bean extravagant way of "learning", (going from one extreme to another) but this how my character got molded i guess. I believe it might be a symptom of an unstable character, but i'm content with it.
Anna Laura
poster:Anna Laura
thread:6363
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010611/msgs/6647.html