My Support Forums - View Single Post - " When should you stop going to therapy?"

chaotic13 · Jun 20, 2008, 04:44 PM

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sunrise said:

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Many patients with chronic depression hope to keep their relationship with their therapist for as long as possible. Lisa, 42, from Huntington, New York., likens talk therapy to "going to the gym."

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">I wonder how many therapists would allow that? I always have in the back of my mind that my T says he does not do longterm therapy, which he defines as greater than 3 years. I always feel like that clock is ticking. I have been with him 20 months.

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I had a similar thought about this one. I guess it re-raised in me the issue of want vs need and who is paying. I find my sessions with my T very helpful and therefore keep going. However, a lot of my initial therapy goals have been met or at least insight has been given to get me started. I obviously still have a lot of other issues that have surfaced, but I wonder if I really NEED help or just want it.

In one recent session I finally asked my T what my diagnosis was. I have avoided asking for what my pathology label is partly out of fear and partly because I knew I would immediately search for all available information on "it" and the various treatment approaches, etc. However in this session I was having a really very bad day and asked my T what technically was wrong with me. She said the code she is using for insurance purposes is the "Adjustment Disorder" code. Of course I didn't listen to anything else she said after that point and immediately after the session started looking it up. The first web source I pulled up defined it and said most patients are usually done with therapy in 6 months.

Of course I immediately slammed the laptop closed and concluded that I was a slow adjuster and that my T was looking to kick me out any minute. Obviously these negative thoughts were still lingering in the back of my mind 2 weeks later, 'cause the next session I tapered my session back to 1 every 3wks.