[struggling2]

How many of you are working full time as you go through the process of therapy? I currently do and this process of therapy and everything that is going on is seriously taking a toll on my ability to productively function at work. As I get deeper and deeper into this I just cant focus. My mind is all over the place. Work is a god send because it gets me out and around other people. Im getting worried because I feel like im getting deeper and deeper into my own inner turmoil and my ability to focus is going to get worse. How many of you work full time while working through your issues? How do you balance it?

I am just able to compartmentalize. But I was not able to do that until I went to DBT. At first, when I started getting into deep rooted issues in T-I could not focus on anything else. But through DBT Group and T helping me fill my tool box between session I am just able to put it away while at work. I don't really know "how" perse, but something just happens as soon as I walk into work where I just focus on what I am to do there. But, it does not always work that way. I am always in my head when I am at home.

[lostmyway21]

I used to work 40 hrs a week, go to school full time and therapy twice a week. How did I manage? I have no idea. I didn't sleep two days a week though.

[autotelica]

My issues are not at an acute point right now. My therapy is completely supportive, meaning that there is no concrete goal I'm trying to achieve. My therapist says I can continue seeing her as long as I want, so I do.

But when I first started, yes it was hard. My head was tuned into nothing but suicide and it was a challenge to put on my "normal" face. I also had to figure out how to do my scheduling so that I didn't have to constantly explain why I had to leave in the middle of the day. I was very secretive and scared that I would be found out. Fortunately I have flex leave and I was able to snatch a good time slot.

[Hope-Full]

I can relate struggling. It is challenging to do both, well. For me, my job was the distraction from therapy. It was really hard at first, actually, to separate therapy from work, but after a few months, once I finally settled into therapy and realized that my T wasn't going anywhere, I was able to "let go" of therapy during the day, and focus on my job. As soon as I got home from work (7:30am - 4:30pm), therapy became my main focus, even if it was a non-therapy day. I actually found myself needing that distraction from therapy while at work, otherwise I was getting consumed by my therapy, and was pretty much non-functioning.

[pbutton]

I work full-time and I am also going to school. It is hard for me to focus. I think it is actually a good thing because it is teaching me how to quit going over and over the same thing in my head. I don't have time to do that, I have to learn new ways of thinking.

[trdleblue]

I have one day off which is the day I do t. I work about 55 - 70 hours a week. At work for the most part things are not a problem. At times either I am unable to sleep, or I have "busts' of emotions that come when I'm on the way, or at home.

[critterlady]

I have trouble concentrating, too, especially on therapy days. I struggle to stay productive. I'm a fulltime grad student, working on my thesis. I can focus when I'm researching or reading, but writing is a whole other story. I think I've written about 3 pages in the last 2 months. It's getting scary, really.

I work 40 hrs a week and see t once a week (occasionally twice a week). Sometimes it's hard focusing on work when I'd rather be thinking about therapy stuff. Working with dreams and stuff is SO much more interesting than my job, after all! There are times though when I'm thankful for work - when there's stuff from therapy I don't want to think about. Mostly though, I find work an annoyance when I'd rather be concentrating on therapy stuff.

[SallyBrown]

Coffee. Lots of coffee.

But seriously, when I was a grad student (in science, so it's really more like a job), in less-busy times I could keep my work week down to 6 days a week, 60 hours or so, but in early years and in the final push, it was 7 days a week, up to 80 hours or so. On a bad therapy day, it was really, really hard. Even on a good therapy day it could be hard to stop thinking about it and focus on work.

Compartmentalization, as TTGB said, is pretty key. For me, the way to do that sometimes was to schedule my day down to 15 minute segments. If my mind was wandering, I'd say, ok, it's 1:15 now -- I will think about this, journal about it, whatever, until 1:30, and then I am going to get up and do X task. It helps to actually physically get up and move to another location to do what you need to do, too. Schedule it in as a "break" period, then keep going. Don't fight too hard against it, but also put a limit on it.

And make sure you talk to other people. I find that having to pretend I'm ok with other people kind of tricks me into feeling ok, and if I can ride that ok-feeling to get some work done it helps.

I'm not in grad school anymore, but I still work full time. I have a humane boss, so although it's no 9 to 5, it's manageable. It's very hard, though... by the end of the day, I'm exhausted, and I wish I could tell the other people around me that my day started nearly 2 hours before I even came in!

Good luck with your thesis, critterlady! I was going through a horrible time in T while I was writing, probably the worst period we'd ever gone through. Since writing is so unrestricted, there were some days where I just went home and cried for hours before I could get myself up and working again. But I still did it (one of my committee members liked it so much she asked to keep it!), and you'll do it too, and it'll be great. It does often feel like trying to empty the ocean with a spoon, though.

I've always had to work full time, so I've just had to learn how to leave my personal crap at home. I can't walk into a classroom disocciating or crying or visibly depressed or raging, etc. I have leave that stuff at home and away from my job. I guess I've just really learned over the years to compartmentalize things in order to remain functioning. It has probably taken me longer to work through my stuff because of it, but getting lost in it and being unable to function as a wife and a mother and a teacher has never been an option. I HAD to keep functioning in all of those roles. So, while I do think it has taken me longer to get through this, in a way, taking it in slower, smaller bites has worked for me in the long run. It has just been a very, long run.

[rainboots87]

I had enough trouble with school part-time and/or work part-time just due to my depression and anxiety. T helped me tremendously be able to even do that. Last week as a sub (on call) worker, I actually worked over 40 hours which surprised me. I think part of it depends on the job, because at my last job I worked more with data and on the computer and struggled to work even 20 hours a week for more than 1 week in a row. I had to convince myself to stay for even 2 hours at a time. I love my current job, though, of working with kids. But therapy helps me drag myself out of bed when I'm really depressed. I mostly had mid to late afternoon appts and hated the morning ones when i had to go to work right after. That's tough for me.

[bamapsych]

I work 40-42 hrs per week. Im full time college student working on Psychology degree. I have appt with T one day per week. I go to small group for single Christian women every Monday for 2 hrs. I go to another group first Friday every month for 2-3 hrs. Aspie meeting first Thurs each month. Another small group meeting first Saturday each month. Church 2-3 times per week. Family and friends. Im single and live alone so I have to do ALL household chores, finances, run errands, buy groceries, etc. The list goes on and on and on lol... I definately got unproductive and nonfunctioning at the beginning of therapy. Now im better. It seems to cycle between ups and downs

I work 70÷ hours a week and go to T once a week. New T also and the work feels like another full time job!

Thankfully i work in a very creative, emotion- driven, moody, weird and beautiful (in terms of the actual work product) environment. As with my colleagues, I try to keep myself together but sometimes I have a little meltdown.

I do try very hard to compartmentalize, though. And I only do as much as I can manage based on my inner turmoil.

Thankfully, nobody really blinks an eye, if anyone bickers, freaks out or throws a tantrum. Door slamming is common too.

If it isnt me, it is someone else freaking out or in a super bad, moody mood.

If I were still working in a strict Corp env, or controlled env or an environment where I was responsible for othet human beings and their welfare, I dont think I would last very long...the pressure would be too much.

Also the main thing is that i remind myself i am doing the best that i can, when i have a mis-step i acknowledge it and try not to do it again and most of all, remind myself that i am human.

Oh and if i am having a bad day i try as hard as possible to avoid my colleagues that are also having a bad day...it is a high pressure job...so i know when to give my best stay away from me right now look...it works well

I hope this helps a teeny bit.

Rose

[athena.agathon]

I work full time in social welfare, and I often have 9AM-9PM kinda days (not at the office until 9PM but doing visits or research or doing paperwork at home), but I love my job. Thank God I have work. I find it really helpful for me to be focused on the other human beings...I can shut out my problems and be focused on helping clients, and that helps me not go crazy.

I also work hard at compartmentalizing. I give myself a time limit to journal and then set it aside.

[stopdog]

I work full time and see two therapists.

work full time and therapy once a week; compartmentalizing is key!
and my google calendar

[struggling2]

you all sound so functional. I'm falling apart over here! I used to have a good "off" switch...a distraction switch....and that was work. I would work work work to avoid feelings and problems. now I'm drowning in feelings and questions. I think I liked being numb and detached better

[trdleblue]

Originally Posted by struggling2

you all sound so functional. I'm falling apart over here! I used to have a good "off" switch...a distraction switch....and that was work. I would work work work to avoid feelings and problems. now I'm drowning in feelings and questions. I think I liked being numb and detached better

I sometimes think I prefer the numbness as well, but deep down I know that's not healthy. I'm not sure if it's the same for you, but when I'm detached to the bad feelings I'm also detached to the good. I've been told that with time, as I start to feel more, i'll become better at regulating my emotions. Currently they bubble up in intense bursts. I think I'm just lucky that it doesn't tend to happen at work. Do other distractions work for you when things get to be too much? It doesn't always work, but sometimes it helps me to get lost in a good book or movie.

[SallyBrown]

Are you on any type of medication? Antidepressants helped me a LOT.

I find this thread surprisingly upsetting - which is interesting in a way. One reason why I'm in therapy (possibly the reason) is that I don't manage to do my job very well. I do work full time though. I wouldn't reduce my working hours because I'm in T, I think, but I know if I do need to do so my current boss would be sympathetic, and that's a huge relief to know.

[struggling2]

Originally Posted by SallyBrown

Are you on any type of medication? Antidepressants helped me a LOT.

Hi Sally,
yes i am on 20mg of citalopram. ive wondered if i need to up the dosage a little bit but I hate taking medicine and i have this fear that always upping my meds when i start to feel bad will just prolong and mask the problem instead of me just dealing with it?

[Perna]

I loved having therapy on Friday afternoons, so I could go home afterward and have the whole weekend to "recover". Then we changed to Wednesdays (but I always made sure it was afternoons and I always took whatever time afterwards off if I had to, never went back to work or anything) and that was a bit harder but it was later in my therapy so I was better and didn't have as much difficulty containing.

Originally Posted by struggling2

you all sound so functional. I'm falling apart over here! I used to have a good "off" switch...a distraction switch....and that was work. I would work work work to avoid feelings and problems. now I'm drowning in feelings and questions. I think I liked being numb and detached better

Oh dear! Functional? Not so much... More like surviving

Something else that really helps me is to take time to write in a journal AND even come on the site and post or write a PM if I am struggling. Or I just get up and leave the office and take a break.

A couple of times, I felt so overwhelmed and horrible from triggers, memories brought up in T, stress, etc...I have taken a MH day.

The bottom line I think is to do the best that we can for that moment. I also have a little piece of paper on my desk that says "I can handle anything that comes my way"

Hugs to you,
Rose

[pbutton]

I am not all that functional. I am at work right now, does it look like I am working or thinking about therapy?