[BlessedRhiannon]

Hi all -
I'm going to send my T an email and ask if we can talk about this at our next session, but I wanted some feedback from others as well.

A few weeks ago, I introduced some very difficult topics in to therapy. Then, I had some drama happen with my job, and the last two sessions have been on that. I know that by the next session, my work drama should be mostly resolved, so I want to get back to the deeper work that we've been doing, rather than just trying to manage my anxiety as we've been doing for the last two sessions.

I've been with my T for almost 5 years now. I've brought up a LOT of things with her. Stuff I've never shared with anyone else. We've worked on lots of things together. I've managed to identify most of my poor coping mechanisms, and I'm aware of them and usually able to choose some other method of coping when needed. The things that brought me to therapy originally are finally well controlled. Basically - the "symptoms" are either under control or I'm fully aware of them and working on them. I feel like there's more I need to do, though. There are the topics that I introduced a few sessions ago. There's the deeper, core beliefs that are still kinda messed up. I feel like it's finally time to really work on the deep issues and how to move forward.

Every time I go to session, I have lots of ideas of how I want to tackle things, but then I freeze up. I tell my T that I don't know what I want to talk about. That's not really true, it's more that I don't know how to move from where I am to where I want to be. I don't know which topic to tackle first. I don't know how to bring stuff up or what I need to talk about once I do bring it up. I went through something similar about 2 years ago, but then, I couldn't move forward until I was able to focus on something other than anxiety. Getting on meds helped me to lower my anxiety levels to the point that it wasn't so all consuming. Then, I was able to start working on other things. At that time, we went to every other week sessions, as I just didn't have anything new to talk about. I've thought about doing so again, but my problem this time isn't that I don't have anything to talk about, it's that I don't know what's important anymore. I have so many things to talk about now that I get kinda stuck.

Can anyone relate. Has anyone else felt like you've hit a plateau where your symptoms are under control, but you know you need to get in to the deeper issues more, and just can't seem to make that jump from one to the other?

[Wren_]

(((Rhi))) I haven't found that situation before ... but I really hope that by sharing what you wrote here with your T she is able to help you with the next steps. Maybe discussing how to tackle things rather than jumping in and tackling them could be an inbetween step on the way to dealing with the deeper issues ... let us know how it goes

sometimes with other kinds of plateaus it helps to mix things up a little and do something different before resuming the hard work of getting to where you are wanting to go ... not sure if that applies here or not but I thought of it when you mentioned hitting a plateau

[BlessedRhiannon]

Thanks tigergirl.

I wrote my T an email, but then I realized it halfway sounded like I wanted to quit, which isn't the case at all. I'm not sure how to reword it to get my point across better. So, I think instead of sending the email, I'm probably just going to save it and read it to her next session, so we can talk about it.

I'm hoping T has some ideas to help. She's very experienced and very good, so I'm sure she'll come up with something, if I can just let her know what's going on.

[CantExplain]

I quite often felt stuck. Expressing my anger sometimes helped.

[CantExplain]

How are you feeling now, BR?

Rhi...I have so been there everytime I think about approaching a difficult subject...

I think your paragraph sums it up...where you said I don't know how to move from where I am to where I want to be... I think once you get to this point in therapy is where most Ts get excited...they love this stuff this is what all the other work was for...

I think she can help you with that as long as u can describe where you think you are and where you want to be....

[coolibrarian]

Originally Posted by BlessedRhiannon

Hi all -
I'm going to send my T an email and ask if we can talk about this at our next session, but I wanted some feedback from others as well.

A few weeks ago, I introduced some very difficult topics in to therapy. Then, I had some drama happen with my job, and the last two sessions have been on that. I know that by the next session, my work drama should be mostly resolved, so I want to get back to the deeper work that we've been doing, rather than just trying to manage my anxiety as we've been doing for the last two sessions.

I've been with my T for almost 5 years now. I've brought up a LOT of things with her. Stuff I've never shared with anyone else. We've worked on lots of things together. I've managed to identify most of my poor coping mechanisms, and I'm aware of them and usually able to choose some other method of coping when needed. The things that brought me to therapy originally are finally well controlled. Basically - the "symptoms" are either under control or I'm fully aware of them and working on them. I feel like there's more I need to do, though. There are the topics that I introduced a few sessions ago. There's the deeper, core beliefs that are still kinda messed up. I feel like it's finally time to really work on the deep issues and how to move forward.

Every time I go to session, I have lots of ideas of how I want to tackle things, but then I freeze up. I tell my T that I don't know what I want to talk about. That's not really true, it's more that I don't know how to move from where I am to where I want to be. I don't know which topic to tackle first. I don't know how to bring stuff up or what I need to talk about once I do bring it up. I went through something similar about 2 years ago, but then, I couldn't move forward until I was able to focus on something other than anxiety. Getting on meds helped me to lower my anxiety levels to the point that it wasn't so all consuming. Then, I was able to start working on other things. At that time, we went to every other week sessions, as I just didn't have anything new to talk about. I've thought about doing so again, but my problem this time isn't that I don't have anything to talk about, it's that I don't know what's important anymore. I have so many things to talk about now that I get kinda stuck.

Can anyone relate. Has anyone else felt like you've hit a plateau where your symptoms are under control, but you know you need to get in to the deeper issues more, and just can't seem to make that jump from one to the other?

Yes, more than once. The thing about getting to the core issues is, you don't need to decide what the "beginning" is. You can start anywhere. You can start in the middle. You can say something like, "When I was X age, I felt Y. Z happened." Your T will probably encourage you to go on, or ask some questions. You don't have to do it all at once; you can break it into pieces that are MANAGEABLE FOR YOU. Good luck, and hugs.

I do this all the time.
I walk away from session shaking my head with frustration at myself.