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Old Jun 05, 2007, 03:35 PM
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Perna Perna is offline
Pandita-in-training
 
Member Since: Sep 2006
Location: Maryland
Posts: 27,289
Hi, Jewgal, welcome to PsychCentral. I don't know that your therapist can tell you what to do with your feelings, they're just feelings/emotions and it's not like they can be changed/taken away; you feel what you feel. You don't have to "do" anything with them except, like Mouse had to work with her therapist on, know what they are and "sit" with them and check whether they're appropriate "now" or not.

Being angry now about some other situation in the past is "displacing" the anger. You first need to be able to feel angry about an incident that happened in the past but know it is/was in the past and not "now." That's a perception thing you have to learn and not something your therapist can really "help" with other than to sit with you while you work it out/experience it. I like to think about the analogy of an infant learning to fall asleep on her own -- the parents can't "teach" that or do anything to help, the infant has to learn to soothe themselves into sleep. An adult coming to the crying infant always and not allowing them the discomfort of learning something new and difficult, just puts off the learning. Your T doesn't have a "textbook" that says, when feeling A, do B or C and all will be well.

I use my anger as a "red flag" to tell me I have some internal problem other than whatever action I'm now taking. Usually I get a bad case of road rage and that tells me I'm anxious or hurt about something else in my life. The minute I do (or think) something really inappropriate while I'm driving; cut someone off or feel like giving them the finger :-) or start calling them names under my breath, I instantly stop and check the rest of my life to find what's really wrong. Usually someone I love is leaving or in danger (illness) or I'm anxious about a decision I've made/have to make, etc.
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