For me, and I'll admit that I'm a bit embarrassed at copping to this, it was validation. After fifty plus years I finally came clean to a therapist and psychiatrist regarding my reality/mental health issues that I had been keeping to myself for a half century. It took them both all of about twenty seconds to dismiss my reality - and nearly all of the twenty seconds was while I was still talking.

It would take supreme confidence, bordering on arrogance, to dismiss them as easily. While they didn't have doubts about their conclusions, they caused me to question my own interpretation of my experience. I fired them and got a new T.

I wasted no time sharing my experience with the new therapist - there really seemed nothing to lose, I had already been told that I was delusional. And then the words I didn't know that I needed to hear: "I believe you." And everything changed.

I analyze everything - everything. Hyper-vigilant on all fronts except this one issue which I've glossed over and more or less tried to ignore, trivialize and re-frame into something more palatable. Now I get to look at it directly, discuss it with someone safe and find better ways to deal with it than ignoring it.