Frustrating Moments of Therapy

This is true for me too. I find walking, biking and swimming to be very helpful. I like yoga a lot but sometimes in classes there's a guided meditation component that's iffy. It can go well and I can leave feeling great or the teacher can say something about a tranquil beach for example and I go from all relaxed to thinking about shark attacks and rapists who lurk on beaches. It's weird because I really do like beaches and don't generally worry about sharks/rapists when I'm actually at the beach. It's something about being told to relax that has my mind go "oh my god, you're letting down your guard! Are you freaking crazy? Don't be taken in! If you believe it's safe to relax, I have a bridge in Brooklyn in just your color!"

I don't think it's easier to beat yourself up and deal with feelings of worthlessness or inadequacy as opposed to having a somewhat upbeat attitude that eventually this will work.

Nor do I. It was a direct response to HG's post about how she could get in a lot of trouble for being relaxed or "lazy" as a child and how it now feels like a dangerous way (for her) to be. I was just illustrating her catch-22. I agree that the challenge is to foster some optimism that with time we'll learn what we need to and emerge both stronger and more resilient.

When I first started that stuff with T, I would get livid because it did not work. What helped was him emphasizing that it wasn't going to make me completely relaxed, or even a lot relaxed. He said the goal was to make me feel a teeny tiny bit less anxious or unsafe or out of control. Like, on a 10-point scale, it might bring me from a 10 to a 9.5 or 9.0. The more we did it, the more effect it had. It works for me a lot now.