I went to my first therapist for alot of reasons. the first and main one was I was living with an alcoholic drug addicted relative and I needed help with her and getting her to understand her children needed her and her lifestyle and my being a fill in mom for her children who were emotionally and physically being hurt by her lifestye was bringing be down faster then my my own problems were. I was no good for me let alone the children and that relative needed to step up before I lost all of us (her, the children and me) to complete insanity.

I had basically hit rock bottom and the rocks were begining to bury me. So in desperation I called the alcoholic relatives therapist agency.

I was scared because I had never been to a therapist and my only experience with a therapy professional was in high school when because of grades I was sent to the school psychologist. and he was more concerned with bathroom funtions then anything and then told my parents and I was given a misdiagnosis.

A few years later I started seeing relatives therapist and yea things got alot better. I learned to not take care of the alcoholic (dont do the shopping, and cleaning up and coverstories when the children were in trouble and so on so that the alcoholic can see they have a problem and do something about it).

That first therapist also introduced me to relaxation/hypnosis techniques, and how to do as the therapy world calls it self nurture. That therapist went above and beyond for me and those children and that relative. Heck I still owe the woman at the least $200.00 that she put in from her own pocket when I couldnt afford the sliding scale fee of $10.00 a session. She put me in touch with a great agency - Adults Molested as children, parents united where I learned for the first time that I wasn't alone. Seeing that therapist was a definate positive experience all around.

There for a while I did stay away from therapy becuase I had had some bad experiences with mental health units.

What got me back in was that I have a disorder where the person really needs to stay in therapy for a long time (most therapy for DID takes 10-20 years sometimes longer depending on the client and how the therapist works.) my not being in therapy lead to a very bad situation for both me and my child. I was DHS mandated to enter therapy and my child had to also enter therapy. I would not be where I am today if I had had a different therapist then I did. I learned so much with this therapist and the way we did things it didnt seem like therapy at all. By then to me therapy was tear the heart out kind of stuff because that is what I had experiences a few times. but this therapist I got in 2001 was just so laid back and open minded that we were able to run in directions of research, activities and so on that would not have been posible with a run of the mill textbook style stiff as I call some types of therapists. we had a great time and got at the least 10 years of therapy work done in a three year time period. it was definately a positive experience with her.

My next therapist is the one that I have now. Where as my last t herapist and I hit it off right from the start this one and I had the type of beginning where you're standing on the edge of a cliff and the rocks shift so you slip down then back up again. The basic one step forwards and two back that comes with transitioning to a new therapist and both are trying to just jump in with their own expectations instead of taking the time to develop that bridge between each other. Once we both stepped back and took time to build that bridge to stand on instead of the cliffs shifting rocks we became a great team. and once again we are moving in directions that a textbook style stiff therapist would not be going. She is very open minded and willing to try anything that I incorporate or want to incorporate into our time together. Its definately a positive experience with her also.