Haha-cotton wool and unicorns. I have a friend who works in mental health and it sounds like constant personal drama unlike the fields I've been in which are more political oriented, I suppose another facet of drama in a sense. Yours sounds like a reasonable strategy. I don't get involved with the politics and am not competitive at work, so my strategy is to let everything roll off my back and try to focus on doing a good job and getting the work done. Not the best strategy as a person has to engage in politics to advance in many careers, but it's all i can manage right now.

My T has been more supportive lately, so he can still listen and be empathetic about these issues. I think I have several different issues going on here; some I did not give enough thought until writing this thread. Therapy has weakened my career strengths, partly because I swung the other way and made myself vulnerable, which, in tandem with everything else, made things worse. At this point, I can't change some of my circumstances and feel helpless at times--it seems what I'm going through is analagous to continually treading water. I'm sure many can appreciate that feeling. Yet, there's no life preserver in sight. My T doesn't have one either, so I'll just have to accept that, too.