Ok, so my T has told me several times that I have Maladaptive thinking.. so we had quite a discussion about this... She kind of backed off of it and apologized for using that term... but it IS how T's look at some way I and others who Dissociate or suffered extreme trauma at a young age or over years... they think our thinking is "maladaptive".... Well, what makes them think their thinking isn't maladaptive??

Maladaptive He!! I think that it was one of the best coping skills a young child could come up with to escape the inescapable.! If I call that anything I would call that very Adaptive! Besides, so many who suffered the unthinkable at a young age adapted the exact same way... hmmmm that sounds like a normal adaptive skill to me!

Just because I have an ability to really Compartmentalize.... and deal with things differently does NOT make me Maladaptive..... Since when is there anything such as NORMAL anyway???? Norms are based on Society... I bet many "normal" people in the USA may be considered Abnormal by another culture or society!

I am tired of words like abnormal and Maladaptive.... I am not ashamed that I think different or I dissociate, or that I have a desk locked in a secret room where, when I am able, I will open the drawer, pull out something and deal with it... but close the drawer again until I am ready to deal with it again... (OK, so it's an imaginary desk in my head.. I have a great imagination Not maladaptive!)

I really am tired of all the labels... If anything I think that I had some amazing coping skills as a child! Sometimes I wonder why I should get rid of something that worked so well for me for so many years or be told it is Maladaptive???

I know.. it worked when I was a child, but now as an adult... yada yada, yada.... As long as I function and I cope and for the most part I do quite well!
I hold a steady job, raised a wonderful son and 4 other children. I have a hidden nightmare that I deal with in my head daily... but I adapted, I coped and I came out ok.... So why the word Maladaptive?? I mean really wouldn't you think it would be a creative and wonderful coping skill to escape the inescapable...

Ok, my rant is over... thanks for "listening"