[thestarsaregone]

How does therapy affect, if at all, your non-therapy life? Do you find it easier to resume your "regular" life after your sessions or do you find that your therapy issues affect your non-therapy relationships and life?

For a while, I had an easier time keeping the two separate. The issues that we worked on in therapy rarely bled into my non-therapy life, unless it was a crisis situation. We'd talk about issues in our session and then I was able to go on my merry way, thinking about what we discussed, without it having a real emotional toll on me.

In the last few sessions, however, things have changed. We're talking about transference now (a very uncomfortable topic for me) and I'm extremely stressed out in my personal life, which is making it hard for me to turn off my emotional messiness in my real life.

Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts! And how you all are holding up

[HazelGirl]

I wouldn't be in therapy if I didn't have problems in the rest of my life. And therapy has improved my regular life, too.

[Willowleaf]

I rarely talk about my normal life in therapy but when emotions are difficult in session it does spill over. On the other hand as Hazel said I wouldn't be in therapy if I didn't want to life to change in some way. Pay off I have noticed do not relate directly to stuff talked about but I now have more friends and a better job. T and I both notice I don't do well trying to resume real life after a session so I see her pretty late in the evening.

[Elektra_]

i think there is no separation or there wouldnt be. people are in therapy to improve themselves or lives therefore there will be no separation. not to mention what u learn in therapy should be brought to ur life otherwise why would u be there?

[stopdog]

The two are quite separate for me.

There has to be separation or it wouldn't be possible to work and have a normal life between sessions. At the same time, if I only thought about the issues when I'm in T's office, I wouldn't make much progress - and in any case it's usually impossible to stop thinking about it afterwards. What makes it easier for me is the fact that almost nobody knows I'm in therapy, and I arrange my working days so I usually don't have to meet people after a therapy session. So I can deal with any emotional overload at my own pace without having to explain or excuse myself.

Writing often helps, for me.

[Yearning0723]

Do any of you talk to anyone else about sessions or your T or anything related to therapy?

Originally Posted by Yearning0723

Do any of you talk to anyone else about sessions or your T or anything related to therapy?

I have one friend who asks me about my therapy sometimes. He's the person who badgered me until I sought therapy, and then badgered me again until I changed to a T I could work with. I try to tell him as little as possible. Which hurts, because I think it would really help me to be able to discuss things in more detail, but that's not an option - he wouldn't want to know, and I can't reciprocate. There are only a couple of other people who know I'm in therapy, but none of them ever asks about it. So yes and no

[stopdog]

Originally Posted by Yearning0723

Do any of you talk to anyone else about sessions or your T or anything related to therapy?

Not really. Only my partner and best friend know I see a therapist and I don't really discuss it much with them. I do hear a lot about their therapy experiences though.

[thestarsaregone]

Originally Posted by Mastodon

There has to be separation or it wouldn't be possible to work and have a normal life between sessions. At the same time, if I only thought about the issues when I'm in T's office, I wouldn't make much progress - and in any case it's usually impossible to stop thinking about it afterwards. What makes it easier for me is the fact that almost nobody knows I'm in therapy, and I arrange my working days so I usually don't have to meet people after a therapy session. So I can deal with any emotional overload at my own pace without having to explain or excuse myself.

Writing often helps, for me.

Yes, I absolutely agree with your point about needing some separation or else it would be impossible to work/have a normal life between sessions. I also schedule my sessions at the end of my work day because I always feel so drained after and need time to recharge my batteries. The few times I had lunch time appointments and had to go back to work put me in a weird mood. Writing helps me as well!

On an unrelated note, I do think about therapy and what I'm working through between sessions. I just sometimes feel that sometimes my sessions dig up lots of big issues and I need to compartmentalize that a bit in order to remain highly functional in real life (otherwise I would probably just lie in bed and cry all day). I think it's my way of self-preservation. Is that strange?

The two are very separate. And i do not talk about my therapy with anyone.

[DelusionsDaily]

My therapy is all about improving my "non-therapy" life. They are very directly related for me. It has been about learning a new way to live: taking care of myself physically and emotionally as well as finding ways to challenge my brain. I am looking to improve my life socially. I have been very neglectful of myself for years as well as being somewhat of a hermit so it's all inter meshed for me. 1 spills into the other and vice-versa and for the most part it creates positive results.

[Mactastic]

No, my therapy life and non-therapy life are not separate. A lot of people know I am in therapy but I don't talk about it with anyone except my mom. She doesn't know all the details but she's the only person in the world who knows how important therapy is to me. She also has some vague idea that I have feelings for my T and she doesn't judge me. I don't go around blabbing "Hey I'm in therapy!" But there's not one piece of me that feels shame for bettering myself. I'm proud of my struggles in that room - I'm facing fears, getting stronger, healing wounds, and learning to make better relationships. Where's the shame in that?

There is no shame in being in therapy! Not telling other people you're in therapy does not necessarily have to do woth being ashamed ashamed about it. I don't feel any pride about it, personally, but I understand how it can be something to be proud of.

[growlycat]

When someone in RL "confides" to me that they are in therapy, I usually tell them that I am too.

Often at work, when someone comments how well I work under pressure, I've been tempted to say "I have a fabulous therapist". Haven't gone there yet!

[SeekerOfLife]

Originally Posted by Yearning0723

Do any of you talk to anyone else about sessions or your T or anything related to therapy?

Only here on PC. I do not believe the average person would understand my need for therapy.

[SeekerOfLife]

The whole point of me being in therapy is so I can cope with my life when I am not in session. I cannot see how they can be truly separate. I do not speak about my therapy to anyone else, but my therapy has a very real link to my non therapy life.

I don't think it's a B/W thing. Of course therapy seeps into life outside therapy. After all, therapy doesn't just happen in the therapy hour.

[IndestructibleGirl]

I can't really separate them entirely, I don't think. I mean I function well at a professional level, and don't bring my therapy to work - in fact being passionate about my chosen career is a great break from the issues that took me into therapy, and I feel very privileged to do what I do. But at the same time the issues I'm dealing with are never far from my thoughts - and if I'm doing a less than stimulating part of my job then they creep in more. To be honest though I was pretty much the same before I was in treatment, in terms of never being faraway from anxiety or despair about my substantial problems when I allowed myself to focus on them. Before therapy it was worse, because I hadn't even begun to unpick the tangle - now I feel I have back up

Mostly helped me with relationships, and feeling more comfortable being me.

It's ideal for therapy life to positively impact non-therapy life.

On the downside, it can drive me crazy sometimes. Noticing everyone else's personality traits and patterns just like my own. I over analyze as a result of being in therapy...

The positive outweighs the negative by a wide margin.

[Amandasmom]

Originally Posted by Yearning0723

Do any of you talk to anyone else about sessions or your T or anything related to therapy?

. I only say something about my T to only 1 friend who is in therapy herself and understands me. Some people say because the person is moody that they are bipolar. I want to say that's not true but I'm bipolar. I would never tell anyone my diagnosis or what meds I'm on. Not even my boss.