[Ellahmae]

Do any of you journal throughout the week in between sessions and then read some of it to your T? I think that it would be helpful to her since I forget a lot of the stuff that goes on but feel strange pulling out my book and reading to her... thoughts?

[sideblinded]

Originally Posted by Ellahmae

Do any of you journal throughout the week in between sessions and then read some of it to your T? I think that it would be helpful to her since I forget a lot of the stuff that goes on but feel strange pulling out my book and reading to her... thoughts?

I absolutely do this! I find it very helpful.

We have a 'new introductions' forum where you can introduce yourself and be formally welcomed to PC.

Best wishes!

[ThisWayOut]

I do. I either read it to her or hand her what I want her to read. I do this mostly because I'm better at communcating in writing than I am at speaking...
With previous T, I would post them as a blog entry to a private blog. I just print them out for current T because I never did ask if she would be willing to read the blog.
Most T's are ok with alternate methods of communication.

Welcome to PC

[Ellahmae]

Originally Posted by sideblinded

I absolutely do this! I find it very helpful.

We have a 'new introductions' forum where you can introduce yourself and be formally welcomed to PC.

Best wishes!

Thanks! I'm so new to this whole thing - just figured I should figure out how to deal with it until I no longer could, and don't know what's good, strange, normal, blah. Such an overthinker

I posted in the new thread but it hasn't been approved yet .

[Ellahmae]

Originally Posted by ThisWayOut

I do. I either read it to her or hand her what I want her to read. I do this mostly because I'm better at communcating in writing than I am at speaking...
With previous T, I would post them as a blog entry to a private blog. I just print them out for current T because I never did ask if she would be willing to read the blog.
Most T's are ok with alternate methods of communication.

Welcome to PC

Thanks so much for the idea! Since I'm already writing in a journal daily I'm just going back through and underlining the stuff I want to/feel I should bring up. Glad to know it's normal to do this.

[gayleggg]

I do journal throughout the week and then review for any gotten issues I need to deal with. Because by the time a week has passed I can forget things I need to talk about.

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Welcome to PC! Yes, I journal a lot and read parts of it to t. I have a dream journal also, that I keep next to my bed so I can write down every scrap of dream I remember, and then type those up and email them to t so we can work on them as well. Both have been very helpful in my process!

[MindfulMoment]

Welcome!

I too journal after every session, but I've never shown an entry to my T. I initially started to try and get my thoughts and reflections out of my head after therapy, but it seems I think about them despite journaling, still though, I find it quite relaxing and I can look back over it to make links between things.

[Ellahmae]

I took my journal in - she appreciated it. Next time I'm going to extract onto a different sheet of paper the things I want to discuss so I don't get lost fumbling through my pages. Kept me off track and jumbled the whole time. I'm glad she thought it was a good idea and even said when I decide to just give it to her she's okay with that and was completely respectful. Makes me happy I started journal-ling to help me heal.

[LindaLu]

I sometimes journal, sometimes at length and re-read it several times, underlining important ideas. Then I shred or burn the pages because I'm self conscious about my writing. Not to suggest others should ever do that but it sounds so overblown and theatrical I can't share it with T. Too embarrassing. But I do raise the key ideas I've written down in our sessions, in fresh words, and T appreciates my having done advance cognitive work.

[catonyx]

I always journal and I've brought it in before for my T to read. It really helped.

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[amayastar]

Absolutely I have a hard time being honest, about my feelings and throughts. If I didn't journal I'd probably never be honest about what is going on with me. I could ******** my way through a whole session.

[Ellahmae]

Originally Posted by amayastar

Absolutely I have a hard time being honest, about my feelings and throughts. If I didn't journal I'd probably never be honest about what is going on with me. I could ******** my way through a whole session.

I agree. It's taken us 3 months to actually get to something to work on because I fuddle around and am never really 'real' with my emotions, thoughts, etc. So I thought journaling would be the best way.

Do you make her copies of it? Write excerpts that you want to talk about before your next appt? I'm trying to figure out the best way to let her read it when I get to that level of trust with her, I think it would help her (and me eventually) a lot but not sure how to give it to her and I am trying to be ready to do so.

[dapplebay]

I have a journal, my t got it for me and we pass it along. So I write in it and then she writes a response to my entry and gives it back the next time I see her. It's kinda cool

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[Lady Lindsey]

My journaling is in the form of drawing my feelings.. sometimes I share them with my T other times I do not

[justdesserts]

I send my therapists my journals via email throughout the week between our sessions. I don't ever expect him to respond or even read them, really, but writing and then sending my feelings away is very therapeutic for me. The benefit of emailing them is that I have a record of them, too and can look back and see progress.

[Ellahmae]

Originally Posted by dapplebay

I have a journal, my t got it for me and we pass it along. So I write in it and then she writes a response to my entry and gives it back the next time I see her. It's kinda cool

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I think that's awesome! Hmmm.... maybe I'll bring that idea up

Originally Posted by justdesserts

I send my therapists my journals via email throughout the week between our sessions. I don't ever expect him to respond or even read them, really, but writing and then sending my feelings away is very therapeutic for me. The benefit of emailing them is that I have a record of them, too and can look back and see progress.

I know that feeling that's why I write it feels good to get it out of my brain. I mentioned that I had been writing and might like her to read them and she held out her hand, I looked at her like she was insane because that was not happening right now, so soon - especially when I feel so vulnerable. She understood and proceeded to tell me of all the pages she's gotten so far this week so I felt better knowing I wasn't the only one wanting to give her something to read.