1.) What is the goal of your therapy? Is it to make needed change(s) in your life? Is it to deal with "family of origin" issues? Is it to deal with your current emotional issues?

I am dealing with a lot of past trauma, including in my family of origin and in past relationships, and resulting emotional and relational issues and other problems including complex PTSD, disordered eating, stress and anxiety, somatic health complaints and issues with low self-esteem. I have a lot of issues to sort out in the long term! It's a bit overwhelming but my T says I just need to keep turning up and he will take care of the process. Right now the main purpose of therapy is just to help me feel less alone in my emotional pain and give me some hope that I can feel better about things.

2.) Do you tell / talk with your therapist about everything? Or are there aspects of your life that you don't even share with your therapist? If so, what effect, if any, do you feel this has on the success or lack thereof of your therapy?

Time constraints mean I'm always going to have to be selective about what I bring up. In theory, I can talk about anything and he won't judge, but it's quite hard to open up about some things. I've told him about some difficult stuff but haven't properly discussed it yet as I'm not ready. I think the aspects of my life that I really don't share are the trivial ones, like what movies I've seen recently. I'm working on talking to him about all the difficult stuff, but it's really hard.

Right now, that process of building trust and opening up is a big part of therapy for me. There are a lot of barriers to talking (mainly fear and shame). It's never just coffee talk with my T, though we do drink coffee in my sessions! But it's not just about the actual subject matter, but also all the unspoken, unconscious aspects of the unfolding relationship.