When clients dont cry while disclosing painful history does the

When I disclose some of my csa, I feel anger, and shame , I kinda curl into a ball in my chair full of anxiety, sadness , but I dont shed a tear, maybe Im fighting it, sometimes I dissociate. Do you think the t thinks there is something wrong with me? Or that the csa did not bother me?

I've never cried in therapy about old stuff. When I cry it is because of current issues. I've never been told that it is particularly unusual.

No, I do not think the therapist likely things you were not affected. I think it's more likely they see you were so deeply affected that you don't respond in the typical or cliche ways because of how damaging the experience was. That's how I have experienced it anyway: I went through a lot of early therapy dissociated and shut down, anger was a dangerous thing to show, so I didn't. Sadness was an embarrassing one so I didn't, etc. If you really sense that your therapist may not be getting you though, perhaps show them your post here.

I've never really cried in therapy /: I can't seem to do it. Idk why....I find it hard to access my emotions in and outside of therapy though. Hmmmm...but can anyone cry on demand anyway?

I guess when sharing particularly sad and traumatic details of ones life, you would expect a display of emotion to match. But I don't know. Maybe it's more 'normal' to not have those emotions attached, you know? I know I definitely don't....

The therapist I see insists it was worse than I remember and thinks I don't show emotion because I don't want to remember how bad it was. I don't cry and the therapist thinks it was bad.

I don't cry about my csa, I am ANGRY

I think they assume you are not ready to get in touch with the feelings surrounding it. Usually because of the pain of the past. I believe they see it as a symptom, and do not pass judgement.

i think everyone processes things in their own way and i'm sure your T realizes this. i doubt there is one right way to emotionally work through our painful histories. also, there can be layers of processing a painful incident. at first you may feel one emotion about the incident or not much at all and then later you may feel emotions you know logically were there but just weren't feeling yet. i've heard anger is considered a secondary emotion. meaning that behind it is more emotion like fear and then behind that fear maybe is the hurt. it's that whole peeling of the onion people talk about. please know you're doing just fine where you are at.

I've started to feel anything about my csa stuff after 5yr of therapy. Before that I was only angry at me how stupi I'd been.
Still I never cried in therapy. I dont think my T decodes it somehow- ppl just learn to deal with emotions differently. When I feel like crying I laugh. It's pretty similar and helps.

Thanks everyone I was just thinking there was something wierd going on with me, because when I was in a trauma group for a short period of time, there was alot a
of crying going on and I just could not understand it, the group t said that ppl were at different stages of the group. All I am feeling right now is anger confusion and guilt, sometimes I feel so vulnerable that I think I want to cry but tears dont come out.

Hey Sweepy, I think you hit the nail on the head right there when you said you're feeling angry. Anger is a mask for sadness, just a different stage of it. I'm in the same boat as you. Can't cry in front of my therapist. I do however sometimes cry when I'm alone. From what I've read, your next step should be to embrace your anger and start communicating about that. Nothing heals like angry tears, or so they say. If you suffered csa you should be angry. Don't suppress that rage! Good luck.

I've been seeing my T for almost 5 years, and for the first 3 I never cried. I wanted too but held back. She was the only T that handled the PTSD issue (childhood sexual abuse), peeling back the layers slowly, and that's when the tears started. Other issues have come up and currently I am dealing with some crappy stuff now, and the tears seem to be a regular occurrence.