I'm kind of going through this with my T right now. When I became so ill a few years ago, I lost so much confidence in myself, particularly in my music. Then after ECT, I found I'd lost some of my piano skills. Probably completely a temporary issue. I know that rationally, but I haven't gotten past it yet. It scared me and I haven't touched the piano since.

My T is not a musical individual; he is all sports and action. We are complete opposites that way. He would like to see me doing more exercise and physical activity, but that absolutely doesn't interest me in the slightest. In our last session, I confronted him about how I feel like he isn't hearing me about the exercise issue, and he asked me what do I want to do. I told him I want my music back, and I just started crying and crying. I think he finally was able to really "hear" me about this issue, and he seems to be seeing how painful this loss has been to me.

It's a start. It has taken me being forceful and insistent about this with him. He has a blind spot about exercise; so do I, and we are on opposite sides of that blind spot. He's asked to hear recordings of me playing my instruments. He's trying to understand the importance of music to my life. We'll get there, but it can take persistence.

Sometimes we have to teach our T's about ourselves when they don't quite seem to "get" us. Don't be afraid to do the teaching. You know, my T has always been incredibly insightful about me; this is honestly the only time in our 7 year history that he's missed the boat about me. But I'm determined that he WILL understand this. It is too important to just say, "Oh, he doesn't get it, so we can't talk about it."