[Elio]

I have been going to therapy this time for just 15 months with the last 4 going 2x week. Things are shifting for me but I can't tell if it is a good thing or a bad thing. I'm not more stable though I am having more good days than bad. What I don't know is, am I feeling what I should feel? People talk about healing or working through something... I don't know what that means, what that feels like. What did you feel when you felt healed or that you had worked through an issue?

Thank you for sharing your story.

[MickeyCheeky]

Well, if you're feeling better, I'd say it's working.. do you feel other significant differences compared with yourself before therapy?

[Elio]

The depression has lifted overall. However, my head feels just as confused as ever. So... ?? don't know.

[eyesclosed]

I know only of physical healing, that our body adapts. So if you start a new job and you are repetitively grabbing onto something your hands develop sores that turn into callous so if you apply it to your mental health I would say adapting is healing.

[Thunder Bow]

In healing, you may feel depressed at 1st, as you let go of old negative feelings that were old friends to you. Then a feeling of well being and inner joy may result. Also you will feel more confident, and think of yourself in a better way.

Well, I wouldn't say I have exxperienced any healing, but I have learned ways to cope. In this sense I consider my therapy to be successful.

It has become apparent to me that perhaps my own therapy experiences were not what others seem to be having.

Firstly, my therapist interviewed me and assessed me on whether we could work together and if she would take me on as a client.

Secondly, at the outset we established an agenda, time frame, expectations, and even responsibilities for the therapy. We established goals that were measurable and realistic.

We constantly revisited these goals to evaluate what was and wasn't working. I was held accountable to doing my part in the way of homework and exercises. We made a weekly agenda and reviewed the previous week's work. I was sent away with my own copy of the session notes with orders to review them daily.

By the end of the 3 month period we had agreed upon, we saw measurable improvement.

[Thunder Bow]

You always have to be a part of your own healing.

[eskielover]

For me healing didnt come quickly. 13 yesrs of useless therapy. A few monthe of better, then I got in with a wonderful community thetapy group that offered 2 years of DBT which helped me understand how the mind works & I learned to put words to what I was feeling & recognize my thoughts. I learned how to be aware & see the big picture.

From there I started to recognize pieces of my past thst I had never understood before. I did most of the integration thinking on my own then talked through it with my outstanding psychologist who validated that my thoughts were logical & the pieces did indeed fit together.

At the same time living in a completely new town 2100 miles away from where I was born & had lived all my life, i developed suppirt networks all around me & a church family like I had never experienced before. Life jyst started comibg together & i felt cared about & even though living alone, i felt safe for thefirst time in my life.

That is basically what my healing experience has been

[LadyShadow]

For me my healing has been self-acceptance and letting go of the past. I never had much success in therapy in the beginning, but as the years carried on I have had better understanding and have learned to cope with my bipolar.

Knowing that I have the illness and I AM NOT the illness has helped a lot.

[pachyderm]

I seem to learn things and then regress and then learn more, so it is not a process of continuous improvement. I understand more about emotional processes and why people, such as my mother, and especially myself, have reacted -- how we made serious mistakes and yet are not necessarily to be condemned for that. I have come to rely more on my own judgement, finding that others, even mental health professionals, are not always to be relied upon. I see the mechanisms of emotional dysfunction taking place in other people, even those in "high" positions. I see such dysfunction within myself, and am slowly able to correct that. Insight. Exploring mindfulness -- that is, being aware of my own thoughts, feelings, and mental processes, even when they are daunting, has been the most valuable for me.

[eskielover]

Pachy .... its been awesome to see how you & many of us who have been here these many years have gained the knowledge that has led us to be able to heal as much as we have over these years

[Unrigged64072835]

I find that healing is still an ongoing process for me. While I have learned and recovered from quite a bit there is more to explore.

[lizardlady]

I have been going to therapy this time for just 15 months with the last 4 going 2x week. Things are shifting for me but I can't tell if it is a good thing or a bad thing. I'm not more stable though I am having more good days than bad. What I don't know is, am I feeling what I should feel? People talk about healing or working through something... I don't know what that means, what that feels like. What did you feel when you felt healed or that you had worked through an issue?

Thank you for sharing your story.

I'm diagnosed with major depression, DID and symptoms of PTSD (not diagnosed with PTSD because pdoc did not want written record of it).

It terms of healing from depression. I realized I was getting better when I stopped planning to kill myself on a daily basis. I started finding positive things about life.

It's kind of weird about the DID. I never had any great "aha!" moment about healing. I just realized one day that my parts were no longer taking over the body. They are still there. I can still tap into their individual strengths if I need to, but they no longer take over.

With PTSD, I realized I was no longer having flashbacks.

Sorry, got kind of long winded, which is something I do. For the most part I did not realize I was healing as it was happening. I'd say if you are having more good days that bad you are healing.