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Originally Posted by googley
she said that she thought I needed more help. All I asked her to help me with was my anxiety with my professors. Is that too much to ask? I didn't ask her to help me delve into my other issues. Just that one thing. Then she said maybe we should work on my sadness. I said okay, but I still need to work on my anxiety with my professors. Now she wants to get rid of me. I tried to trust her.
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It doesn't sound like she did anything untrustworthy. Googley, you have said yourself that you have more issues to work on than can be done in 12 sessions, so it sounds like she is agreeing with your assessment. How about if you tell her that you realize you have a lot of issues, but due to the time-limited nature of the services she provides, you would like to focus on one issue that is of immediate concern to you--anxiety about your progress in your academic program, and perhaps some related concerns like how to communicate effectively with the faculty in your department, how to prepare effectively for exams, etc. And then ask her if those concerns are within her scope of practice. You could also tell her that while you work on these concerns with her, if she could be looking for options for affordable, longer term therapy for you outside of the university, that would be really helpful. Ask for her help in keeping your focus on this immediate and important issue. It sounds like she is not really helping you focus your therapy so indicating a need for that might help her settle down and keep your sessions on track.
Quote:
Originally Posted by googley
I don't know what to do now. I didn't ask for her to deal with my other issues. Just help me with my anxiety.
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It seems perfectly appropriate to remind her of this.
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Originally Posted by googley
Now I feel all alone. No one wants me. No one wants to help me.
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I thought she just said you needed more help, not that she won't work with you for your 12 sessions. Did she say she won't see you anymore? I think generalizing her statement that you need additonal help to "no one wants me" is not accurate or helpful, googley. You can talk yourself into a hole that way. Can you stick to what she said and consider it as an individual situation?
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Originally Posted by googley
Can't I have an off day in therapy without my T saying I need more help and she wants to get rid of me?
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Googley, if you want to make efficient use of your time with this counselor, getting distracted with issues like this are going to make that difficult. I consider them important and don't want to seem like I am minimizing them. But if you and this counselor are going to work on why you react to her the way you do, why her statement makes you feel that you can't have an off day, etc., your 12 sessions are going to quickly be used up. Yes, all this interpersonal stuff is important in working on self concept and other key concerns when one is in a longer term therapy situation, but you aren't.
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Originally Posted by googley
But it still feels like she wants to get rid of me.
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Yes, but that doesn't make it true. Working on your feelings of rejection might be better for longer term therapy.
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Originally Posted by googley
Even my parents hate me. It was my birthday yesterday and they didn't call or email or anything. I feel so alone.
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I'm sorry you are not as close to your parents as you would like.
Do they usually call on your birthday so you were expecting that? Some families just don't do the birthday thing well or sometimes unfortunately it's true people don't care enough. I don't know which it is for your family, but not having expectations of them might help with the pain. They are who they are. You can have your birthday and enjoy it without their call. I saw you got a lot of birthday well wishes on PC. You are well liked here, googley!
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Originally Posted by googley
I don't know what she wants to do.
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Talk to her and find out. A conversation could clear up a lot and might relieve some of your anxiety.