What's up with this phenomenon?

Is this weird or is it just me?

I get all agitated about something. I get all revved up to bring it up with T. I have all this inner dialogue about how to bring it up, what to say, points of discussion, and a million thoughts about it.

So I finally work the conversation around to it and T like... almost dismisses it with a few minutes of conversation. Maybe dismisses is the wrong word. She's not being "dismissive" per se, she's just very concise and to the point. Things that have tormented me for years. She just sort of... paints it in another light and then moves to the next topic.

It's weird. It's like I build it all up in my head and then we barely talk about it. And then it's gone. And I'm always in a fog and confused afterward. It's like it was so stuck in my head, and now it's evaporated, like she erased my memory. Like I can't remember why that was so agitating before.

So... what do you think? Witchcraft? LOL!

It's weird to me that I can't even focus on it like I did before. I mean, I guess it's good? But it's so strange... like my anxious memories are erased. But I almost feel brainwashed or something. I'm not describing this well, but it's just so weird.

Maybe she's being too efficient? Does she validate your feelings and help you explore where they might come from?

Yes, I think you're on to something... I think it's that everything is interwoven, interconnected. Everything. But she treats each instance as an individual episode that can be summerized and tied up in a neat bow... thereby ending the connection to other events.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to tie events together and give them meaning. Trying to untangle this web... and she's like gift wrapping each package with its own paper and bow and handing it back to me.

I kinda get what you're talking about... I notice it too...
It's a bit like the Einstellung effect. There's an obvious solution but people tend not to see it because they're used to looking at the problem in a certain way.



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That would be extremely confusing. What you're describing almost sounds like a form of dissociation, where you're blocking out feelings or reactions from her methods. Maybe like anger or feeling like you weren't really heard? Or maybe disappointment?

I had some very weird trippy dissociate-y things happen to me while I was in therapy with previous T. Hard to explain, but I can empathize. You sound a bit like I felt. All foggy and strange and at times like someone else reached in and worked the controls on my brain.

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To me, it kind of sounds like you are ruminating. Sometimes all it takes to stop rumination is to vocalize it. Suddenly that ruminating thought just breaks apart once out of the head and into words to someone, particularly a therapist who knows how to redirect it.

This happens to me frequently. I think I over analyze things so much and think of all the different things she will say that when I actually bring it up I almost have it all figured out for myself. She ends up saying something that makes sense and that I thought of it myself...but didn't trust.

I have not had that sort of experience with a therapist.

Witchcraft? That's silly. It's voodoo and I could use some of it. I have issues with that interconnection thing as well. I haven't been in therapy long enough to notice anything like this but it would be nice.

I read these boards and wonder if I'm in therapy yet or if I'm just going to consider it.

Ha. Voodoo. LOL!

Thank you for all the replies.

I think it's that I know what's wrong with me. I've been sifting through it slowly and deep down I really want to get it out. But it's too far down and I don't feel like I can just spill it on her. When she solves each problem individually, it breaks any connection we were having and I can't get to the real problem. It's like being cut off.

I'm certain I'm ruminating, so that observation was spot on. But I'm afraid if I don't think about the things we discussed that I won't learn anything from it, or take anything from it. If I can't remember the lessons, how do I remember not to repeat the problems? Ugh...