Going to therapy high (or tipsy)

I would have to agree with this quite a bit.

Me too. My emotions are pretty numb
, and alcohol allows easier access to them.

When I'm numb its easier for me think about and analyze my bad feelings and thought processes versus getting frightened and freaked out by them

I've never gone to therapy drunk or high. I have taken a Xanax before a couple of sessions. Those were times I was so anxious I couldn't make myself walk in the door to T's office. I tend to agree that sometimes those sessions are better than when I don't take anything.

I took a half a xanax before session once to deal with pretty severe pre-session anxiety. It ended up being a waste of time, since I couldn't feel what I needed to talk about. I told t I'd never do that again.

I do sometimes request he make me a scotch rather than tea. No luck, yet.

I go to therapy high all the time. It really does help me to open up when before I would be so scared to talk about certain things. I'm able to share more genuine emotion. I agree, if I went while TOO high, I'd probably just stare at the wall and space out. I smoke in my car before I go in, and usually I assume it's not very obvious. Though, last night my therapist asked me if I had smoked before I came in. Gotta get some Visine, lol. Also I feel like being in the same room with him only boosts my high, so I think the whole experience is fun and a little "out of this world."

I don't smoke pot, so that wouldn't be something I'd consider.... nor do I drink (but maybe once/twice a year). There have been times I've been SOOO anxious knowing a session was coming that I considered taking Xanax before my session. But I figured if I did that, it might numb my feelings a bit and wouldn't make for a productive session (not that my sessions are always productive anyway). I guess my feeling for myself is, I want my T to see me as ME...even if I'm shaking horribly from anxiety. I do keep Xanax with me and sometimes pop it when I leave....but I haven't taken any before a session. Only thought about it...

Well I'm just going to sound like a goody two-shoes here, but no I haven't gone in high (I've never gone in on any mind altering substances, but I think there's a difference between prescribed medication and street drugs like weed and alcohol.)

Personally, I think it's disrespectful to everyone involved to go in high, and it makes therapy pretty pointless.

Yes, going in high works on one level because it seems like you're accessing emotions, but if you're using weed, alcohol, whatever, as a dis-inhibitor, that's not you doing the work. That's a drug crutch doing the work that you should be doing.

The hard work of therapy is 99% accessing and accepting difficult emotions for what they are in your sober state. If you drug the parts of you which inhibit those things, you come out the same way you went in. It's no different than the drunk girl crying in the gutter outside the bar. She's not having any real breakthroughs, she's just letting her inner world run rampant all over the place.

If being drunk and high was any kind of path to emotional healing, people with drug and alcohol addiction would be emotionally healthy. And they're not. They're so, so far from healthy it's not even funny.

Frankly, if I were a therapist and my client came in drunk or high, I'd send them home. And if I came in drunk or high to therapy, I'd expect to be sent home too.

Probably not what people here wanted to hear, but that's my take on it.

Ive never been high, but I often wonder how a beer would affect a session. It tends to make me talk too much, so maybe that would help me open up.

What about on meds???? Are we in an altered brain state on meds?

I cannot process at the moment without being high. I do not do it every day but each time I do, I process. My t/pdoc encourages anything that helps me connect.

I took Ativan once before therapy. My T told me not to do it again because it made me to numb and not reactive. Now that I drive myself to my appointments, I can't take Ativan because of the drowsiness.

For me, being on medication definitely was similar to being high. It was a problem because I entered into therapy already drugged up, and my therapist never really got to see what I struggle with. She does now, though. And I can do better work on my issues because it's more clear what's going on and where the triggers are. It might be different for someone who's been in therapy first and then gets on medication, but even then it's hard to know what's having an effect; at least, this has been the case for me.

Meds generally never altered my behavior or thinking acutely or suddenly for only a matter of hours like alcohol or illicit drugs do. The only exception to that were benzos, but I avoided them like the plague; only time I really took them was during hospitalization. I hated taking them as they absolutely made me feel "drugged" and I don't accept that side effect; just isn't conducive to living my life and working.

The meds I took were longer acting type of meds, so acute changes in ability to process, think, etc. weren't an issue. Rather, most meds I took worked to raise my mood level to something closer to normal over a period of time, and that effect (less depression) made my ability to think -- something that was without meds like thinking through quicksand -- much more normal and enabled therapy to actually reach a place that would work. Not at all the same effect as alcohol or illicit drugs or a short-acting benzo, etc.

Ah, I feel like most of the people who posted here are actually in some shade of agreement with you. I don't see a lot of support for the idea that it would be a good idea.

I wouldn't go in under the influence of anything, but I have noticed occasionally that when I have gone in feeling extremely tired that the session has been surprisingly effective- I think being tired has at times left me feeling more open than usual. (I don't generally have a problem with openness and I'm pretty comfortable with vulnerability, but I think tiredness does seem to even further disarm me.)

The first one I see has told me that people come in to appointments high/buzzed all the time. She does not seem to have a problem with it. I even believe with me she would consider it meant I trusted her if I did it (I never plan on doing it - I do not trust her for that sort of thing). For some, it can start a conversation that can make it easier to segue into not needing such a tool to talk about difficult things. I don't do it but not because I think it would interfere with therapy or upset a therapist or anything like that.

Yes, I could see that people who are usually inhibited might be able to use it as a tool. Many relationships start with a bit of alcohol to pave the path so people aren't so shy around each other. I could see it having such a function on occasion in therapy as well.