Who has experience with depth psychology?

Hello, I have been having GAD,depression,OCD already from a very early age. I didn't start taking any medication for it until 25 when my personal situation got too bad due to health issues and other things. I tried various ADs so far and NONE helped at all (lexapro,remeron,wellbutrin,cymbalta,tianeptine).

My last doc basically said he can't do much for me anymore. Now I went to a new doc and was hoping to try out more drugs but he basically said that drugs won't help me and that my issues must be rooted in my personality and that only depth psychology can help me and that this process will take long.

I don't know what to think about this. I mean first of all I dont have many childhood memories. I dont know why I have these issues. Even if I could find out that a certain event caused these issues what would this change? I'm really confused. I dont know if this depth psychology can help me or if it's basically a bottomless pit. What if it only leads to more frustration or insecurities?

I mean let's say I talk about a childhood memory and then the doctor tells me that this memory probably did this and that to me then how shall I know if this is true or simply his opinion!? This whole stuff seems totally vague to me. But after talking to him I feel worse now. Now I feel like there's no hope for me outside of what he has to offer. I know that I have many psychological issues and that I'm pretty bound my ocd. I don't deny that.
But I am also really sceptical that simply talking about my past and trying to find subconscious triggers is going to cut it. What if brain chemistry is the main factor? It could just as well be brain chemistry.

Another factor is that I needed to find something which helps me soon and not in a few years. I am not functionable the way I am because all my personal issues/worries and my health issues totally overwhelm me. There are days where I spend the whole time reading stuff online hoping to find something which gives me hope cause no doctor has been able to help me with my many issues.
The pdoc told me that all I think about is my issues. That is true. But isn't this normal when you simply have all kinds of serious issues? I mean what shall I do? Simply not care and be unaffected by them at all? I dont see how this is possible. There are things which I simply CANT deal with it has always been this way. Even small things totally drag me down for example when I see that my gumline is receeding or that I'm losing hair then it totally hits me it makes me feel like decaying. It simply creates a huge fear response inside of me which makes me feel absolutely miserable and it has always been this way.
But the problem is that at the same time I simply have a lot of real health issues which can't simply be denied or simply all be put into the "psychosomatic ailments" black box. I have a lot of things which I notice about my body which arent normal for someone in my age (28).
I was okay up until 20 and then the decline started. I noticed more and more symptoms in my body and developes pains and aches and all kinds of things.
That's why I'm sure that there are things in my body which aren't right but simply no doctor knows what it is.
It could be sooo many things. I feel hopeless cause doctors only treat symptoms today nobody really looks for root causes.

Hi alecc and welcome to PC! I have found so much help and support here and hope you will too.

I've been in therapy with a Jungian depth therapist (for major depression and anxiety) for 3.5 years now, I had my last appointment a week ago and we have now changed to me calling her on an as-needed basis.

I can't really speak for anyone else of course, just for myself. This is my 3rd try at therapy, and the only successful one. Depth therapy has been painful, hard, rewarding, crazy-making, enjoyable, everything under the rainbow. Overall it has been the BEST thing that I could have ever done for myself. During the 3.5 years with this t doing depth work, I have changed jobs from one that sucked my very soul to one that is fulfilling and that I love, I have a group of friends completely outside of work (which I had never had friends aside from "work friends" my entire adult life until now) based on mutual interest, published my first book of poems, my relationships have gotten stronger and better and I now see myself as a loveable, valuable, and special human being, I was able to completely get off the antidepressents I had been on (with pdoc's blessing, I was on Zoloft and Trazodone, been off them for 2 years now), I'm volunteering with the girl scouts, etc etc and overall am the happiest I have ever been.

But yeah... it's been a LOT of hard work to get here. Oh so worth it though. We really dove deep into my past.... I've already babbled on enough so I won't go into details but I was able to forgive both of my parents (not at the same time, it took a lot longer to forgive my mom) but I got there. For me, not for them. It's been so very, very worth the hard work, pain, struggle, and tears. There were gradual improvements all along.... I got the new job a year into therapy, stuff like that. As I began to feel better little by little it gave me confidence to keep trusting n the process and keep working hard. Just wanted to share my story. Again I am speaking only for myself. But I hope hearing my story helps a little!!

Hi, thanks for your input.

I wanna ask a few questions.

1) What can depth therapy do for a person which is depressed cause of external factors like sicknesses, having much stress, having a low quality of life, having no purpose/job which is enjoyable? Simply things which cant simply be changed especially the health issues? What can it do there???

2) What if you absolutely do not have YEARS to get better? I mean what if you needed something which helps you really soon like within the next 3 months or so?
What worries me is that if DT can cause additional emotional pain/stress then how does this help me in a phase where I already have very much stress and where I needed to become functionable asap? What if this is totally counterproductive and I leave every session feeling worse and being more upset internally than before?

3) Can you describe a bit how this works? I mean do you have many memories which you talked about and then he told you what this means or how they affected you?
Or does the therapist only listen and you have to come up with conclusions on your own? If he interprets things for you then how do you know what he says is right? What if he simply interprets stuff into events which isn't right?
I see this as a danger.

4) What if you do not have many childhood memories in the first place or what if there are memories which you will not talk about? I mean in order for this to "work" do you have to talk about everything and must not keep anything secret or simply not mention it?

i'll do my best to try to answer from my perspective, as a layman with NO formal psychology education, just from my own experience...so don't take it as anything other than that. My experience only. I do think that one has to be "ready" to do this kind of work. Again this is just my opinion and who knows how one can know when they are ready, other than for me, I met my t, felt an immediate connection with her, a "click" of connection or something, and I really dived right in headfirst...

1) For me, as I started more and more feeling my own self worth, I have finally been able to get to the realization inside myself that I choose how I react to things - that doesn't mean I can control external stuff, but I can control how I choose to respond to things. Grounding/centering exercises help here. I tend to "go all up in my head" and learning how to catch myself when it starts, and ground myself, has been a huge help. I got something from a dream one time - this: "I asked the universe 'why is it always me who has to change?' And the universe replied: 'Because, my dear, you are the only one you CAN change.'"

2) I started seeing gradual changes in my thoughts early on in therapy actually. I think just having someone truly LISTEN to me - started the healing. I've never truly felt heard my entire life until therapy; and now I have learned to make myself be heard by the people in my life. At first I noticed I was starting to worry less. The next big a-ha that therapy was working was my sister told me she noticed me making eye contact with people at a family gathering and actually having conversations, not just mumbling one word and looking at the floor. And when I was confident enough in myself to go for the job I have now - that was a biggie. I was so scared about it I didn't even tell t I applied, didn't tell her until I knew I had the job. Silly me. Sometimes I did leave sessions feeling worse than when I went in. I got brave enough to tell t one time and we did sessions 2 times a week a couple different times to get me through those rough times and it really helped.

3) I wish I KNEW how it works!! I just know that for me, it did. My t told me a lot "trust the process". I told her more than once that my process could go take a flying leap. Just being open and honest with her especially during those times was key I think. We talked about things, she sometimes would ask questions, she mostly let me figure things out on my own, I had told her early on the first time I noticed she was letting me figure things out, that I appreciated that, since for me anyway, I learn much better if I figure things out for myself. I'd think outloud with her and talk myself through things with her encouragement. She never really TOLD me anything was anything - she is very fond of reminding me that I have the answers inside myself that she is helping me get to those answers, like peeling back the layers of an onion. She basically taught me how to do this "inner work". Something that she does in addition to the depth therapy is sand play - she's a certified sand play therapist - when I still saw her in person (the first year, then she moved and we've done phone sessions for 2.5 years since) I often did sand trays, she would be silent and just watch me create them, and listen to my talking to myself, and then after I was done we'd look at it together and talk about it. My therapy was very much a collaboration between the two of us - she definitely walked beside me on my journey. Instead of "interpreting" events I'd share with her, she'd ask questions, and we'd talk about them. I very much did a lot of work on my own between sessions as well. (dream work/active imaginations) She did teach me how to do dream work - I'd never heard of it before her - and I do a lot of it on my own now and have learned much on my own as I continue to work with my dreams. She says all the time "the work never stops" - even though I'm not doing therapy anymore, I still do my inner work. It became a part of me.

4) I don't know about not having many childhood memories. I do. And we talked through many of them, I did a lot a lot of writing about them and workings out about them. Sand trays were helpful in that area. We did a lot of "inner child" work. That is some of the hard stuff. Wish I could be of more help there.

I don't know if any of this helps you or not. But I at least wanted to try. Best wishes to you in your search for healing.