Elliemay,

Thanks for sharing your experience. The more I think about it, the more I believe we need to focus more on the here-and-now and less on the past. I know i still get triggered alot from what happened back then, and i have dysfunctional self beliefs and ways of coping that aren't effective anymore. I know that most of it is based on the bad things that happened to me as a kid. But maybe we could focus more on changing the beliefs and coping methods, without always digging up the original trauma from the past that causes how i am today???

My concern is that my t's theoretical orientation is geared around trauma resolution, and I don't want to change therapists. Maybe she'd be open to adding a little more cognitive work, and a little less trauma work to our sessions.

I talked to her yesterday on my session, and she understands that she needs to be more cognizant in not letting me get too emotionally flooded during our work. She said when we do trauma work, she needs to spend more time helping me bring my emotions back down and contain the distress. She knows this, as my getting overwhelmed has happened a number of times in our work together. But i think she forgets how sensitive I am, and how easily I go into "overdrive," which is emotionally and physically damaging to me. In fact, if my distress goes past a certain point, I just get stuck in the pain and it never moves through me to resolution.

What complicates the matter is that I'm often not aware that i am too overstimulated, and so I don't tell her we need to stop. I don't realize things have become too emotionally overwhelming until it is too late and I'm past the ability to cope. As we go along, i will think i am coping OK and can handle it. But then all of a sudden, i realize i can't. By then, I'm way too ramped up and hurting more than i can handle, and i can't seem to bring myself out of it.