[Trace14]

A psychologist that's doing the CPT group, is going to be gone for a couple of weeks. She asked if I had adequate support from the VA to make it through that period. I explained that I had an appt with a new PDoc at the end of the month, someone I've never met or has met me. But that was it. She responded back that she was glad I had support. ? For the past 8 mos I've been in groups with two different people, PE and CPT. SO it wasn't like having someone to talk to like a regular therapist, someone to build a relationship with. I'm questioning if I do have support, or what that should look like.

[reb569]

For me support is knowing that I can call my therapist to get an appointment any time (within reason), and that in times of need, I can do telephone therapy with her. Just knowing that she's there and knows my struggles and empathizes with me.

[Trace14]

Originally Posted by reb569

For me support is knowing that I can call my therapist to get an appointment any time (within reason), and that in times of need, I can do telephone therapy with her. Just knowing that she's there and knows my struggles and empathizes with me.

That sounds great. I hope at some point I can find something like that. Though with the VA, I kind of doubt it. They are always short staffed and some of the personnel just don't get what veterans deal with. Or that CPTSD goes much deeper than the superficial concerns.

[pegasus]

I've been thinking about this thread. Not sure why it's been on my mind. I had 6 yrs of the therapy and then unfortunately my therapist suddenly died. I had to learn to cope without him, I wasn't going to go with another therapist after that. So what support do I have now? To some extent I have an internal therapist now. But I come to PC because in helping others, it helps me....

[Trace14]

Originally Posted by pegasus

I've been thinking about this thread. Not sure why it's been on my mind. I had 6 yrs of the therapy and then unfortunately my therapist suddenly died. I had to learn to cope without him, I wasn't going to go with another therapist after that. So what support do I have now? To some extent I have an internal therapist now. But I come to PC because in helping others, it helps me....

Sorry to hear about your T. Did you have support from him? What was that like?

[pegasus]

Yeah, like I said I had 6 yrs of psychotherapy, sometimes twice a week. We covered all sorts of different types of therapy. For the first yr or so it Was just about learning coping strategies before going into the bad stuff. Grounding techniques are a must and useful for me. I have collected a tool kit of stuff to use. I guess the hardest thing for me is recognizing when I've gone back there without realizing it... I hope that makes sense. Anyhow, my T was very good at giving me tools to cope. I have every session we ever had etched in my brain somewhere, just need to access it at the right time!

[Trace14]

Originally Posted by reb569

For me support is knowing that I can call my therapist to get an appointment any time (within reason), and that in times of need, I can do telephone therapy with her. Just knowing that she's there and knows my struggles and empathizes with me.

I think you have come up with what I would hope support would look like from a MH provider.

[Fuzzybear]

Originally Posted by reb569

For me support is knowing that I can call my therapist to get an appointment any time (within reason), and that in times of need, I can do telephone therapy with her. Just knowing that she's there and knows my struggles and empathizes with me.

Trigger

I agree with this. Empathy is essential. I saw a t in real life for a long time who decided he didn’t like me any more. I wish I’d known in advance how Narcissistic he was . I blame myself for being so stupid and gullible. I wasn’t making “enough” progress either, I “should” have left despite the fact he encouraged the transference more than was healthy

Now they only prescribe meds which I’m allergic to

Trace, it doesn’t sound to me that you have adequate support. A pdoc isn’t enough

[Trace14]

Originally Posted by Fuzzybear

Trigger

I agree with this. Empathy is essential. I saw a t in real life for a long time who decided he didn’t like me any more. I wish I’d known in advance how Narcissistic he was . I blame myself for being so stupid and gullible. I wasn’t making “enough” progress either, I “should” have left despite the fact he encouraged the transference more than was healthy

Now they only prescribe meds which I’m allergic to

Trace, it doesn’t sound to me that you have adequate support. A pdoc isn’t enough

Thanks Fuzzy. It's hard to know when a T is not the right one sometimes until it's too late. I had one of those myself. Being relatively new to therapy I really didn't know what to expect. Didn't know what to say, what not to say, what they needed to know to help, these were strangers which made it even harder to talk to them. So you were not at all stupid to what was going on. You were there because you wanted help from a stranger and it just took some time for the T to show their real colors. It wasn't you.

Can you get your meds changed?

I don't know if you are from the USA or not. Veterans have the VA-Veterans Administration who provide care for veterans. Mostly people who do not have private insurance, because if you had private insurance you wouldn't go to the VA. just because of the paperwork and lack of care resources.

I agree that a Pdoc is not enough support, but I didn't know if I was just being biased and wrong with that feeling. When the group T comes back I will ask her to help me with finding the right resources.

Thanks again for responding.