Anxiety/shaking

Every so often I get sessions where I spend the entire time shaking violently. I don't really know if this comes from anxiety, fear or what, but it seems to link to a very young place inside. It is really difficult to stop the shaking when it really takes hold and it can feel very frightening as if my insides are literally moving of their own accord and nothing I do helps. T does some grounding with me but it doesn't always calm it down.

Does this happen to anyone else? It seems to happen to me at random although I can sometimes pinpoint a certain feeling or need that sets it off. Often, though, I can feel anxious yet don't experience the shaking.

It does happen to me at the therapy appointments. Sometimes it is so bad,not only am I sitting there just shaking, but my teeth are chattering too. The therapist usually tells me to breathe - which sometimes helps a little and sometimes not at all. I do not know why I do it. Rationally I recognize there is no danger and I can leave and so forth. But there is some part which is somehow terrified of something. It used to happen (for about the first year) every week. Now it is sometimes less as in I do not physically shake as bad but internally it feels awful every week.

Oh, yes. This happens to me. Sometimes my teeth will be chattering so hard that I literally cannot speak. It is scary. I have to believe that it has some therapeutic value in the long run.

Like your t, mine has me do some breathing exercises and I can usually get to a place of functioning, but it often takes several hours before I'm calm.

not shaking, but finding that I'm unconsciously rocking in the waiting room (which is chancy, as people walk through there a lot), sweaty palms, hands like ice. You'd think after all this time it wouldn't be like that.

Has anyone ever remarked on any of this to T and if so what was the response? Twice I think I've mentioned it, once to T1 and once to T2, and each time they looked concerned like gee, you shouldn't be feeling that way, it's only therapy, I'm not the enemy. ONLY therapy!!

I have tried to talk to the therapist about it but she just calls it resistance. She did once tell me she was not the enemy. I told her that was what wily enemies said.

Shaking is part of the flight/flight response. Sometimes, for some people, beta blockers help as they block the physical response.

I would shrug, allow my body to do whatever it felt it needed to; it's a defense and accepting it causes less resistance and might help decrease the shaking.

Remember Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us". http://www.igopogo.com/we_have_met.htm

One session I was shaking really bad. Me and T put our feet up on coffee table so he felt it. At one point he quietly said stop shaking and gently laughed. Instead I started shaking worse once I realized he was aware of it.

Thanks for the responses. I'm glad it's not just me My teeth chatter as well, it's being unable to speak properly due to the shivering that bothers me the most. T usually helps me ground by encouraging me to look around the room, focus on breathing etc. When I'm really bad she will talk to me about everyday things, or ask me to talk to her if she feels I'm able to. Sometimes really deep breathing will help, sometimes it won't. It can get very frightening. I never did this with either of my prior ts but I guess I'm working on some very deep feelings/issues with this T.

My T is nearly always aware of the shaking because it is so obvious. She doesn't say it's 'only therapy' but tells me I'm safe there and she will often try and encourage the adult part of me to come out too, which sometimes helps, sometimes not. Failing that she does the grounding techniques with me.

I did that once.. I was like shivering! I still don't know what happened; we were talking about really sad stuff for me and I guess it was my way to express my sadness.
After the session, I was feeling ashamed but I told myself that it was better for me to do that in session than in my work or somewhere like that!

take care
Faith

There are also times, at the beginning of the appointment, when I cannot speak - I open my mough but no noise comes out - it feels really weird.

Yes, shaking and teeth chattering.

Shaking during session, rocking in the waiting room, sweaty palms, feeling sick to my stomach...yup.

And, yes, I've mentioned it to my T. Usually, we talk about why I'm feeling that way, what might be making me anxious, and T guides me through some deep breathing or just asks me to take a minute to acknowledge the anxiety. She's never made me feel silly for feeling like I do.

When I start shaking during a session, I used to try and hide it or just push it away. Lately, I've started telling my T. We talk about the sensation. She asks me to acknowledge it, notice it, but not judge or fight it. She helps me to ground myself by either guiding me through deep breathing, or asking me to pay attention to a single sound or sight and just be present. It helps a lot. It doesn't always get rid of the shaking, but it becomes more manageable.

I had an issue with shaking for hours AFTER my appointment. Just shivering and feeling awful after the first time we really talked about the sexual abuse (beyond me just saying, I was sexually abused). I discovered having my T hug me was really helpful in pulling me out of my head, and getting the shivering to settle down a little. Safe touch is grounding for me.

I don't recall every getting worse than tense and high heart rate.

(There ought to be an adjective for high heart rate but I don't know what it is.)

Other than breathing or noticing something in the room, what else does a T do for "grounding"? Could be handy to know!!

tachycardia?

tachycardia

ha!ha! must be tachycardia

It doesn't necessarily happen *at* the appointments, but I have defiitely started shaking afterwards.

I tend to clinch up in the moment of distress and I suspect these shivers, shaking, teeth chatterings are a release of that energy I held on to.

Could be, except that tachycardia is not an adjective.

Yes, I have had this response before too. Staying warm helped me.

I have had this several times as well.

A few weeks ago I told him that I felt like I was falling and could we please sit on the floor. He obliged. It was nice to already be on the ground so I wouldn't have to worry about falling to it.

I haven't had this happen in therapy,....but I thought I'd reply anyway. I'm sure it could happen.

I have had this happen outside of T. When I was little, I had the most god-awful panic attacks. I'd cry, shake uncontrollably and violently, ect. They were horrible. Anyway, it was just the extreme anxiety and fear.

But I've also had it happen in other circumstances, where I wasn't feeling the anxiety or panic. This was hard for me to understand. Without saying the event that caused this, it had happened an hour or two prior. I had to go to the hospital, and I basically could hardly stay on the bed from shaking so uncontrollably. I thought, "What in the world??"

Anyway. My T specializes in trauma, and she often gives me examples and tells stories to make her points. She once gave an example of a sort of "delayed fear/trauma reaction," where after going through an extremely traumatic event, your body can release the fear this way, in uncontrollable shaking or movements. I can't explain it nearly as well as she did, so I don't even try or I'd mess it up. She used a polar bear in the example, but it made sense to me after I'd experienced the violent shaking a few times.