[scallion5]

has anyone experience therapy making it worse?

not talking about a session leaving you unsettled

i mean over the course of a few months finding symptoms getting worse, the therapeutic relationship getting rocky, and life getting waaay harder?

what do you do?

[ThisWayOut]

I think it's normal to a degree for things to get worse before they get better. However if things get unbearable, then it's a possibility that the fit isn;t right, or that this particular style does not work for you.
I would hazard to say that most clients go through a rough period (or more than one) with T. We tend to dig up or reveal stuff that we have worked hard to hide from, so many times things "get worse before they get better"...

[missbella]

Unfortunately, therapy only reinforced the habit of feeling like a victim and self-obsessing unproductively. Revisiting my past didn't free me from anything. I wish I'd taken therapy less at face value and paid better attention to how it affected my life outside. I also wish I'd known what to expect and what I might have gotten from it.

[musinglizzy]

I think it can get worse before it gets better. For me, burying things all my life, then suddenly starting therapy and having to expose those things....well, I've had some sleepless nights, that's for sure. And I've felt like I'm missing things more, things I never got....because I'm becoming more aware of them. It's tough stuff. Starting, and staying in therapy is probably one of the most difficult things we'll ever do.

[stopdog]

I think it can get worse and not get better through therapy. Have you told the therapist it is worse?

I've found that when it got worse, it was either a bad match or a poor therapist. When it's working, I might feel more rotten in some ways because of the content, but I am stabilized by therapy, so overall..definitely not worse.

[IndestructibleGirl]

My experience was that it got better and worse at the same time. My life outside therapy got better, thanks to therapy. Concurrently, my therapeutic relationship hit the skids and caused its own hurt.

[scallion5]

thanks, all

stopdog - i have noted that therapy is making it worse, and today i've just reinforced it again.

therapist seems to believe that the worsening is a result of talking about past trauma in childhood, which is what is often coming up for me, and which is what (i guess) is believed to be contributing to depression/self-sabotage kind of things

(and yes, the self-sabotage kind of thing makes the whole notion of it "getting worse" a little more complicated. as in: am i making it worse to try and prove something unconsciously?) i don't think i am. i don't know anymore.

its been 3 years. i've opened up parts of me i didn't know existed. i do not feel fuller or richer with insight. i feel shocked and ashamed...and alone.

[Ellahmae]

Yes! I've been telling T that I feel like I'm getting stronger but feel like I'm being repeatedly punched in the face or falling on it at the same time! Uncovering things hurts and trying to learn how to handle it all sucks - but I do feel like I'm getting a little stronger at the same time.

Originally Posted by IndestructibleGirl

My experience was that it got better and worse at the same time.

[guilloche]

I'm struggling with this too Scallion. I don't know the answer, but I'm really glad that you asked. Thanks.

[musial]

Originally Posted by Ellahmae

Yes! I've been telling T that I feel like I'm getting stronger but feel like I'm being repeatedly punched in the face or falling on it at the same time! Uncovering things hurts and trying to learn how to handle it all sucks - but I do feel like I'm getting a little stronger at the same time.

I could have written this

[musinglizzy]

My T told me that in some cases, therapy makes things worse and is not helpful. She said she hasn't had a client quit because of that, but she's heard that it happens. She warned me pretty early on if I start feeling that way, to let her know. Sometimes it's hard, yes, but it hasn't been difficult enough for me to quit.

[Myrto]

Originally Posted by musinglizzy

I think it can get worse before it gets better. For me, burying things all my life, then suddenly starting therapy and having to expose those things....well, I've had some sleepless nights, that's for sure. And I've felt like I'm missing things more, things I never got....because I'm becoming more aware of them. It's tough stuff. Starting, and staying in therapy is probably one of the most difficult things we'll ever do.

THIS. Therapy has made me more aware of all the things I've missed.
Before I was just repressing everything. In a way it was easier.
Now all the wounds are wide open and I don't know how to stop bleeding.
I have to belive it will eventually get better, otherwise what's the point?

[brokenwarrior]

Hi yes this happened to me. I did not have a good T though. Over the course of six months my depression got worse, my SI got worse, My suicidal ideation got worse, and I eventually ended up in the hospital. I started to resent my T because she couldn't hold promises and she would not communicate with my other clinicians. It took more then one person to make me realize that my T was hurting me more than helping me. I had to let her go and I am in a process of finding another T whiles I am in an outpatient program.