Mental Illness What are Your Experiences With Therapy / Counseling? Was it Helpful?
- Thread starter PGen98
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When I was in my late teens I had weekly appointments with my High School psychologist and afterwards a private psychologist. I was dealing with a very stressful situation plus repressed issues from early childhood. One really big revelation that came of my sessions was that my anxiety of leaving my house and traveling was caused by extreme separation anxiety. My Mom was hospitalized due to surgery for cancer and I was sent away to be cared for by relatives I didn't know. I was only around 4 years old. I had no idea what was going on, just my Mom was stressed to the max and crying for weeks and then she disappeared and next relatives came for me. I was terrified and thought I had done something wrong. To make a scary situation worse, the cab we were traveling in to go to my relatives house crashed. I had no memory at all of this, I was so traumatized I totally blocked it out. While discussing my fear of traveling far from my home the therapist asked some key questions I couldn't answer and in particular if I had ever been in an accident. I posed them to my Mom and she remembered the accident. I was amazed because I remembered minute details of my stay with the relatives, but had no memory of the accident. Fast forward, solving the puzzle of my separation anxiety and fear of traveling liberated me enough for me to book a cruise to Bermuda all by myself, rent an efficiency apartment and fly back to Bermuda alone the next year and fly to Aspen Colorado alone to visit a friend. I've gone trail riding in Yosemite, kayaked in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Oahu and other really adventurous things and it would never have been possible without the healing I got through therapy coupled with my strong faith.
My experience with counselling is mixed.
As a teenager I had some CBT which I felt was helpful, it dragged me out of bed and got me functioning again anyway. But as an adult, the CBT I received has been less than useful. I actually was told by my therapist that I was too unwell for CBT and there was nothing she could do to help until I got better first. I am not sure how that is helpful. I found that therapist rude, obnoxious and difficult to work with, which is a major stumbling block when receiving therapy.
As a teenager I had some CBT which I felt was helpful, it dragged me out of bed and got me functioning again anyway. But as an adult, the CBT I received has been less than useful. I actually was told by my therapist that I was too unwell for CBT and there was nothing she could do to help until I got better first. I am not sure how that is helpful. I found that therapist rude, obnoxious and difficult to work with, which is a major stumbling block when receiving therapy.
That's a horrible way to treat someone! How do you expect someone to get better without help? That's what therapy is supposed to be for, that help. What a horrible therapist! That's just ridiculous that a professional could tell someone that, that's like admitting you cannot do your job!
