This month marks 9 years with my current therapist, and it has been the most difficult, yet most rewarding, 9 years of my life.

I would say the first 5 years were just working through old stuff and getting to the point that I could sort of put that away for the most part; in other words, it was the working towards real healing part.

The last 4 years have been more about current issues with family, work, etc., coming to terms with my diagnosis, developing the skills to cope with emergencies in relation to my diagnosis.

My current life has been particularly difficult in these last 4 years, so that is one of the reasons for the shift. Both of my sisters went through breast cancer, one went through a bone marrow transplant and passed away, one of my sons had to be hospitalized, my husband has had ongoing problems with him own mental health and a very complicated physical health problem, and last summer we almost lost him to lithium toxicity that shut down his kidneys and required dialysis.

So what I am saying is that in long-term therapy, you will find that what you work on will shift perhaps very drastically depending on getting through underlying issues and depending on what issues come up day to day in your life. For me, it's all been very important. The constant support and assistance getting through all of this still alive and kicking has been remarkable, and the level of healing from old wounds has changed my perspective on life.