[IndestructibleGirl]

I was wondering about this today.

Has your therapy helped you in your career? Either, with choosing the right career for you, or realizing you weren't quite happy in your job? Or helping you get where you want to go?

Or perhaps it helped you address getting a better work/life balance?

Or maybe you work a second job around your first, to afford your therapy?

What influence, if any, has therapy had on your working life?

[Leah123]

OMG I'm so happy you asked that question. I was just thanking my therapist last night for inspiring me in this area.

I dropped out of high school, PTSD/family issues. I took a few college courses a few months later, but didn't get any traction for a couple reasons. After about 15 years, I got my Associates, but a family health crisis and job loss made a Bahcelor's unfeasible for a couple years. When I met my therapist, I was burnt out by work and unfulfilled. After perhaps a couple months together, she asked me about going back to school, and I ran with the idea. I enrolled in college and have completed 8 of 20 courses I need to graduate, so I'm only a year away from having the degree I've wanted for 20 years. She also questioned my career choice, saying she couldn't really see me in the profession I'd planned on, which was a compromise I'd made thinking it'd be better for my family. She inspired me to do something truly meaningful, by her own example, and by asking me what I really wanted, so my degree will be in a field I'm excited about that plays to my strengths and passions, and I am planning a career in it once I graduate.

Also, my therapist has definitely helped me with work/life balance, helping me understand how important it is to make time for myself and deal with family/job pressures.

[unlockingsanity]

I'm going to work more often and gaining confidence in my ability to do this work full time.

[RTerroni]

I think it has given my confidence to take on new challenges.

[growlycat]

Therapy has helped me ENORMOUSLY when dealing with difficult people. Dealing with bosses/authority too.

Main T has helped me recognize situations that I need to do something about vs things to let go.

Stress management; conflict management

[nottrustin]

Since I work in psych my work and therapy go hand and hand. Only after starting my job did I realize I was depressed and needed to work on past issues. I started meds and then with T...worked on some difficult things and burnt out during this time. Ended up taking medical leave for 2 1/2 months at T's recommendation. T helps me realize I that I am TOO giving when it comes to work at great expense to myself at times. Lately, I am learning to set boundaries with work.

[Mactastic]

My T has used the "good enough mother" model with me and has helped me be a "good enough teacher" by letting go of unnecessary stress and make time for me.

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[brillskep]

My therapy has helped me a LOT in my career.

I found the form of therapy that I wanted to specialize in, of which I wasn't previously aware that it even was a form of therapy.
My therapist has influenced me a lot in the way I work and he is a role model for me professionally.
By having my own individual therapy, I am more sensitive to what clients might experience than if I hadn't had this experience myself.
He vouched my for my required therapy hours in my professional training.
He has lent or e-maile me reading materials about therapy, which have been helpful.
His emotional support in my life is essential for me to be able to do this type of work without letting my stuff get in the way.
I also work as an English tutor and as a translator sometimes and my therapist encouraged me in all my work endeavors when I started, because I was quite nervous when I first started working. He worked with me on these issues about how I see my work.
He reminds me of my qualities when I discount them, which is a big help to me and my work.

[stopdog]

It has helped in the sense that I use phrases that the therapists attempts on me on students and they seem to, unlike me, react positively to such. I often want to grab them and shout "dude, I just made that **** up, don't believe it. I don't even know what it effing means" but I don't because it is ultimately better for me if they quit crying and leave my office thinking they are better than before they came in.

[Perna]

I was in therapy the entire time I was in my last job (9 years in therapy, 8 in the job) and it made a lot of difference. My coworkers, bosses, everyone knew I was in therapy and we sometimes made jokes and references to it and good coworker friends and I would talk about it and me and whether I was better/worse, etc. I was having trouble relating to my senile stepmother at the time and the good friend coworker had a difficult mother and I was able to "copy" her behavior and tone on the phone, sorts of ways she communicated with her mother successfully so my behavior became much better. I would not have been able to do that if I had not learn better communication skills in therapy. I was able to get some good insight about work problems discussing them with my therapist and was otherwise able to use work and therapy to improve on the other.

[gayleggg]

There was one point in my life, I couldn't have continued working without counseling. Work and home life were both stressfull, but the counseling helped keep me keep my cool on the job and worked on my reaction to some coworkers.

Therapy has not helped my career at all. I was given bad advice many times.

A huge difference!! When I started therapy with current T I had been in a job that I hated that was inexorably sucking the soul right out of me, and because of the changes I made in myself because of therapy I was able to quit and move on to a job/company I enjoy working for and feel good about, and that pays better to boot! I've been in the new job for a year and a half now and still love it. It gets stressful sometimes, I imagine all jobs do, but I enjoy it.

Nice to hear so many people benefited from therapy. My story is to long to go into but therapy has actually ruined my career, my reputation and friends I had at work. There is nothing left to be proud of.

[healingme4me]

It's been the combination of therapy, self help and a couple support groups, that has helped me grow. I entered therapy due to my previous marriage and all that entailed. I've made many changes in how I react to and perceive life. It shows, and because of changes, such as being in touch with my immediate feelings and addressing them by being assertive or processing what's occurring rationally, logically it affects all areas of my life, work life included. There's something major, transpiring, as of yesterday, and I'm still there and I've respect of the higher ups of my immediate supervisor. Yes,it's helped.

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[lrt1978]

It was therapy that made me realise that I wasn't doing what I really wanted to do with my life. It's given me the confidence to go and grab what I want out of life.

I really wanted to study psychology but didn't think I was clever enough, but during therapy I thought I have nothing to lose, so I am now studying for my undergraduate degree in Psychology.

I had lost my drive in life and was feeling completely hopeless and couldn't see a future. Now that the drive for life is returning and I'm achieving something I could only dream about but that dream is now becoming reality and I now see a future and not feeling so hopeless anymore.

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[Daisymay]

notgoodenough, I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope things are better now.

I was in a job I wasn't really enjoying very much when I started therapy. But I was about to change to something else anyway - so I don't think the therapy made much difference. But when I realised I still needed something different work-wise and made the decision to be self-employed it was a lot of the things I'd gained through therapy that gave me the confidence to do that. And, perhaps more importantly, to keep going when the going got tough.

I'd like to think it did help, but I won't really know if I'd have ended up doing what I do now without it.

[harvest moon]

It has helped me a great deal. When I started therapy, almost 5 years ago, although I had a masters degree in Law, because of my depression and social phobia, I could only carry out jobs that would allow me to work from home. I managed to admit to myself that I don't like Law at all and have currently two part-time jobs in other fields, both outside my house, which may not be fulfilling at all, but will hopefully allow me to open up to the world more and start exploring other options. I still struggle daily with my social phobia and force myself to wake up every morning and go to work, nevertheless this is a huge step for me and couldn't have made it if it wasn't for therapy. But I still have a long way to go. So yes, therapy has helped me enormously.

When I started therapy with my ex-T, I had a job I really wanted, but was not performing very well at work which troubled me a lot. I was screwing up for myself more or less on purpose. However, ex-T did not understand the importance that my job has for me, and how close it is to my sense of self and identity. She also gave me advice such as "stop thinking about doing research" which, if I had taken it, would have made me unhappy and locked me into my least favourite part of my job. My current T gets it, and understands that work is something I need to talk about a great deal in therapy because it is both important and problematic. In addition, he doesn't really give me advice (maybe this is something for another thread...). One year ago I had done no research at all for several years and was very unhappy about my work situation. This semester I've had papers accepted for two international conferences, and in addition have taken on new assignments at work and managed to do them rather well. Those are not things T has done for me, obviously (I wrote those papers and applied for the job assignments and carried them out), but I credit therapy and my amazing T with helping me discover how I can do these things. I'm about to apply for promotion, too, which is something ex-T advised me not to do, while current T is actively encouraging since it is something I have expressed that I want.

[missbella]

Originally Posted by notgoodenuf

Nice to hear so many people benefited from therapy. My story is to long to go into but therapy has actually ruined my career, my reputation and friends I had at work. There is nothing left to be proud of.

My experience was similar. It whipped me into such a delusional frenzy I made a fool of myself with everyone in my life. I still haven't recovered with some people.

I'm so sorry you all had such bad experiences. I can't even imagine something like that happening because of therapy! I feel even luckier now that my 3rd try has been so successful.