Quote:
Originally Posted by ArtleyWilkins
I found therapy to be about more than just talking. I talk all day, but therapy was more about verbalizing what was going on inside me that I normally wouldn't talk about. Getting those unspoken thoughts out of my head and into objective ears (meaning a person with no personal stake in my life), was cleansing to me. It was sort of like a relief valve on a pressure cooker.
Having the added benefit of those objective ears being someone who had training in psychology, gave me a person who could help direct me toward insight for those unspoken thoughts, so they weren't just a tangled mess of thoughts anymore. It helped me untangle them and make some sense of them because, for me, they were so voluminous and overwhelming, I didn't know where to start on my own.
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This is very similar to my experience. I think I've even used the phrase "relief valve" with my T before to express how some sessions, I just needed to get some thoughts and emotions out. And then I would feel lighter afterward. And could go back and manage with my daily life obligations.
In being able to share those thoughts in a therapy session, it also helps keep me from dumping them all over my personal relationships all the time. I mean, sure I dump my share, but I'd like to think it's a more manageable amount, particularly for my H. T has referred to it as "outsourcing" before, like outsourcing some of my needs to therapy (and friends).
Also, I can share things knowing they will be kept confidential. I might share some thought that I know sounds really awful, but I know it won't, say, get back to a family member. And my T doesn't react as if they're awful (well, I imagine he has some limit!) and is accepting and validating of most of what I share (with some exceptions, and he will definitely challenge my thinking at times).
I guess, in a way...he's sort of like a diary that talks back? And that I don't have to worry about someone finding under my mattress.* But also, as you mentioned, someone with psychological knowledge who could help identify and process some of the thoughts I'm having.
*That's continuing the diary analogy, to clarify!