Do you ever think about quitting therapy? When?
Is it because of how you feel (therapy is not helping!) or something T did or other?

Have you quit, or threatened to, but then gone back to the same T?

[stopdog]

Every day I think about it.
I don't threaten to quit - I don't think the therapist cares if I am there or not. I have quit and gone back.
More than once.

[AdCC66766]

I think about quitting constantly! The whole dynamic of the relationship makes me uncomfortable and I want to just send my t an email saying I won´t be coming back. It´s the best and worst thing in my life and I have a lot of mixed feeling about therapy. I´ve never gone back after I quit therapy.

Yes, I think about quitting after every 2nd session. I did go through a period of cancelling, rescheduling, cancelling. Apparently its all part of the process and I've read its called resistance. This was because i was on the brink of bringing up pretty significant stuff. My T managed to keep me "on track" and its all working out. Well its not its excruciatingly painful but its stuff you have to go through to get to the "real" work. Keep hanging on.

[Nerak67]

I just recently quit my t of 11 years. I don't think I'll back. It was because our dynamic wasn't healthy. I had intense transference and was extremely needy. But we weren't using this to help me. Instead she was just getting angry and resentful of me. The more she got hostile with me the more desperately I tried to win her affection. It was very unhealthy.

I don't think I would have been strong enough to do it if I hadn't started seeing a new cbt t for my extreme social anxiety. I had a backup in place although t2 and I have never discussed t1.

[RTerroni]

I did it with a Therapist that I had several years ago, but I really haven't had those thoughts as of recently.

[coleychi]

Yes!!! I get so frustrated that nothing is helping. I actually just gave up on my T of 5 years on Sunday in a somewhat impulsive manner... but I don't regret it. Actually, I was vaguely threatening for 2-3 weeks before I finally just gave up. I think it's time to move onto a different therapist because her advice stopped being helpful/we were having the same conversations every week. I'm not planning on going back to the same T even though nothing happened per se, I just got super frustrated about not progressing.

I've never threatened to quit. I could probably quit now that I've been doing so well and have worked through my "stuff" for the most part, but at this point I still occasionally see my T to keep in touch in case things go downhill at some future point.

[tealBumblebee]

I threatened (not maliciously) to take a break (unknown amount of time - 4 wks to start). She (and I) were worried that once I left, I probably would not come back (very likely).

I FELT: I was going through a "push people away" phase and didn't know why I wanted to quit. I knew it had nothing to with her, I just felt almost like I didn't need any help/didn't deserve any/guilty about paying reduced fee/annoying/distant.

THE TIME: Our therapy had, in her words, come to a plateau because I was kind of at an emotional stand still/ wouldn't let her in.

HER RESPONSE: She recognized my pattern of wanting to "run away" when I get overwhelmed or when people start to get too close to me. She asked me to stay, asked what she could do to help me stay, let me know that by letting me go just because I felt "better" she knew she would be doing me a disservice and urged me fight through that feeling instead of letting it consume me as usual. Ultimately, a post I read on here (about someone who took a "break" and left for a year - eventually getting worse) was my encouragement to schedule more appts (she knows this).

[IndestructibleGirl]

Think about quitting all the time. Will I do it? I hope not. In my omg-therapy-is-doing-me-so-much-good moments I realize the seductive urge to quit is just resistance dolled up as common sense.

[tinyrabbit]

I threaten to quit a lot. My record is three times in one month. I can't seem to say how I feel so I threaten to quit. I freak out and think my therapist is a con and he hates me and doesn't care, so I threaten to quit. He always asks me to come back for one more session.

Recently he said: "Sometimes it seems like you are trying to end the relationship..."

Understatement of the freaking century! But I don't really want to. I'm sabotaging myself and freaking out and losing trust and I need him to not let me quit.

[tealBumblebee]

Originally Posted by tinyrabbit

...Recently he said: "Sometimes it seems like you are trying to end the relationship..."...I'm sabotaging myself and freaking out and losing trust...

Ditto! T also used "self sabotage" to describe my threats as well.

[pbutton]

I am in the middle of a giant self-sabotage right now. He offered to move the person scheduled in my slot next week and I said no. So I have no session next week. I'm all over the place about this turn of events. Part of me is very satisfied and part realizes I am being an idiot.

Originally Posted by tinyrabbit

Understatement of the freaking century! But I don't really want to. I'm sabotaging myself and freaking out and losing trust and I need him to not let me quit.

Are you testing him?

I think about quitting a fair amount. I discuss with him my desire to quit periodically. A lot of it revolves around how intensely I feel about him, how much I don't want to tell him certain things about myself for fear he will think I'm horrifying, and also just not wanting to tell ANYONE certain things about myself.

[tinyrabbit]

Originally Posted by 1914sierra

Are you testing him?

Partly. Explanation here: http://forums.psychcentral.com/psych...ning-quit.html

[HealingTimes]

Can i just say how helpful i have found this thread!?
I thought it was just me who felt like this, every single session at the moment results in me wanting to run away from my T and quit therapy altogether. But i think its more wanting to run away from the intensity of the relationship, or wanting to run away from the pain and hurt of why i am in therapy.

[purplemystery]

I do occasionally think about it, but have never mentioned this to my T. Moreso lately because things haven't been going smoothly, and I've been quite frustrated with myself. I feel a rut or a small rupture in our relationship, and I'm not feeling the connection as much as I used to. The thing is, I know that I can survive on my own without therapy; I have to do it every winter and summer over breaks from school. But I do feel that there are things I would like to improve on and learn, and things that I have not yet addressed. Plus, I kind of love her. So I stay.

Yes, this last couple of months I've thought about it a lot.