[sittingatwatersedge]

by request........

well lessee... my therapy costs me
some money (but not nearly what T could rightfully charge )
an hour a week in her office
probably 20hrs a week outside her office
a lot of humiliation
by now, a box of pens, seven notebooks, and a thumb drive
my relationship with a very close family member who I finally realized is toxic for me
a crate of Kleenex

hmmm, what else, now...........................

next??

[likelife]

My sanity and ability to trust my feelings.

(Clearly I'm a little bitter right now.)

[content30]

...a ton of money,
a co-dependent relationship that was not healthy,
a lot of time on this forum,
the ability to do anything without over-analyzing it,
Some personality traits I can do without,
& a partridge in a pear tree (ok...never had a partridge).

[stopdog]

A lot of money
A return to great urge to si (therapy always has this effect on me)
A lot of time reading textbooks on what therapists say they do

[1stepatatime]

hmmm....well yeah...it is NOT cheap by any means

I spend a lot of time thinnnnnkkkkkiiiinnngggg...omg, it is maddening sometimes

I am beginning to understand what my issues are...BEGINNING to.

I am now somewhat dependent upon her

I am afraid of losing her

I am committed to this process

[Syra]

on the bad side
a hole in my heart
but that wasn't because of therapy. That was because of the therapist.

[sittingatwatersedge]

oh yeah - what it has cost me -

my innocence, in a way.
I once believed I had had a normal family,
a normal upbringing,
and was doing OK for myself.
Now I know better.
And... although I'd sensed there were things not right with me, I had no idea how deep and far reaching the damage was.
Now I am finding out.

What it has cost me is also what I have achieved: knowledge of the truth and there is no un-knowing it now.
There is only what I'm going to do about it.

[HealingTimes]

It has cost me the ability to pretend i am 'fine' and that my life is 'fine' and that my childhood was 'fine' and that the whole world and everything in it, is 'fine'.

My T no longer lets me use the word 'fine' in our sessions, as its the word i use when i cant admit to being anything other than 'fine'.

[BonnieJean]

I guess non-monetarily it costs me is all I invest in it.
A lot of time. In session. Out of session. Related reading. Leaving work early to get there-schedule changes. Time on PC. Writing. Art.
My innocence like SAWE says above. Tissues.

Thought provoking question.

[feralkittymom]

Absolutely nothing that I'm not glad to have lost!

[tinyrabbit]

Money, time, time on this forum. I find it hard to think of it in terms of cost, though, as it's helping. I would have done something stupid earlier this week if it wasn't for my T, for example.

[Perna]

Originally Posted by sittingatwatersedge

oh yeah - what it has cost me -

my innocence, in a way.
I once believed I had had a normal family,
a normal upbringing,
and was doing OK for myself.
Now I know better.
And... although I'd sensed there were things not right with me, I had no idea how deep and far reaching the damage was.
Now I am finding out.

What it has cost me is also what I have achieved: knowledge of the truth and there is no un-knowing it now.
There is only what I'm going to do about it.

Ditto!

Originally Posted by feralkittymom

Absolutely nothing that I'm not glad to have lost!

I couldn't have said it better myself! Exactly!!

[mixedup_emotions]

- My marriage
- My job
- My friendships
- My ability to not feel

None of these are unhealthy costs though. My marriage was unhealthy. My friendships were unhealthy. My boss and work environment were unhealthy.

Unfortunately, though, it has left me somewhat lonely and facing financial ruin.

[EllieBear]

My relationships with my family
My marriage
friendships
A lot of time, energy, and money
Sleep
My negative coping strategies...numbness, denial, the ability to shut down at the drop of
a hat

But I have gained:
Real relationships
The ability to connect with my children
Hope
Happiness
Dreams
My life back

Its worth every cost I could ever come up with and more.

[doyoutrustme]

No regrets. Didn't 'cost' me anything. When I am finished one day, I suppose the loss of the therapeutic relationship will be the biggest and most difficult cost.

[Mike Mover]

It has made me deal with the very physically abusive childhood that I had managed to bury in my subconscious for the past 30 years.

T has saved my marriage of 24 years and taught us significantly better ways to communicate with each other.

T has helped my daughter overcome her anxiety.

T has helped my son learn ways to help control his ADHD.

T has taught me, my wife, son and daughter to talk about our feelings in a safe way, instead of ignoring our feelings and keeping them inside.

T has cost me more emotional time and energy thinking not about my own problems, but about what my therapist said or how she said it.

[CantExplain]

Gallons of tears.

[Moodswing]

I feel like therapy has made me weaker emotionally. I have grown to dependent and feel I would be worse than I was if I stopped. Ok so I only been in some type of therapy since last October and started 2 months ago with a second therapist for EMDR.

With my first t, it cost me my heart, just about all my dignity, caused me lots of shame and embarassment, tons of time and money, i felt helpless, alone,and afraid.

With THIS t, it hasnt cost me anything actually. I am so musch stronger and healthier and better off with the t i have now.