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Old Nov 22, 2009, 07:08 PM
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deliquesce deliquesce is offline
Grand Magnate
 
Member Since: Dec 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 3,124
if therapy was the one hour in the whole 168hrs of your week where you felt better (not necessarily "got" better), then i certainly think it's an investment worth making. and i'm sure that any therapist worth their salt would be honoured to share that one hour with you.

as for 'getting' better, i have struggled with this on and off at various points in my therapy. sometimes what has helped had just been accepting that, at the point i am right now, i dont want to get better. but maybe in 6 months time it might change. maybe in 6 months (or a year, or 3 or 30) i might have the energy to try to make meaningful change again. i've had therapists who have validated that sense of resignation (and stubborness ) for me, and it's helped me feel more accepted and like i had somewhere safe to just be me.

my therapist has set me homework at various points that i would be embarrassed to tell my friends (but i will you folk here on PC). one of them was to have a shower at least once a week and get out of the pjs i'd been wearing for the past week. another was to brush my hair every morning. we even had to agree to how often i would brush my teeth (for shame! ). of course, none of these were going to make me stop being depressed, but they might help me feel a tiny bit better from moment to moment.

i wonder if you can let go of this idea that therapy requires you to 'get better'. maybe you can just shift your focus to making life a tiny bit more bearable even though you're depressed?
Thanks for this!
Thimble