[suzzie]

for a t to get you to look up and list trauma symptoms that apply to you. why wouldnt they just ask questions and observe you. where would they be going with this.

[Elli-Beth]

A few guesses:
Maybe the T wanted some vital information more quickly to be able to help more quickly? Or maybe some symptoms are more difficult to observe? Or maybe to help you see that you have indeed been traumatized, in case you're doubting whether or no it's really serious?

[Wren_]

I'm not sure if it is common or not; not in my experience or what I've read about though. It sounds ... strange to me

[sittingatwatersedge]

Originally Posted by Elli-Beth

....Or maybe to help you see that you have indeed been traumatized, in case you're doubting whether or no it's really serious?

I think this was the case with me. I was resistant to the very word "trauma", to the idea that my FOO was not normal (from what I know now, I'm amazed I could ever doubt it), and I am a reader anyway; my T used this approach to get me to think concretely, write down my own experiences/feelings to compare to what I was reading, and pow, it hit me.

[Perna]

There's a professional test one can take:

http://www.nctsn.org/content/trauma-...-inventory-tsi

but it costs money, takes time and a testing psychologist to administer it, etc.; your T could have been trying to save you two time and money. One isn't in the same outside world in the therapy situation so you might not display all your symptoms for one to observe or what is observed might be for a different reason in a session than in general.

[Elli-Beth]

Originally Posted by sittingatwatersedge

I think this was the case with me. I was resistant to the very word "trauma", to the idea that my FOO was not normal (from what I know now, I'm amazed I could ever doubt it), and I am a reader anyway; my T used this approach to get me to think concretely, write down my own experiences/feelings to compare to what I was reading, and pow, it hit me.

Yeah, this is how my T helped me to understand the mutism was real. For years, I'd been told I was just trying to be difficult, and he wanted me to understand that it was a genuine condition, so we got out the DSMV (?) book and looked it up!

[lastyearisblank]

Originally Posted by Elli-Beth

Yeah, this is how my T helped me to understand the mutism was real. For years, I'd been told I was just trying to be difficult, and he wanted me to understand that it was a genuine condition, so we got out the DSMV (?) book and looked it up!

Wow that must have been such a huge relief.

Sometimes when we don't "hear" what our T's are trying to get through to us, they may resort to a bit of education and fact finding. My T, in fact, just yesterday gave me a bit of a research assignment as he is having trouble getting something through my thick skull. Haven't done it yet, but I'm thinking about it.