therapy hangover

I just started back to therapy after 14 months out -- 2nd session was yesterday afternoon. I got home at 5:30 pm and today, at nearly 10 a.m., I still am chewing on what we talked about and feeling kind of overwhelmed and icky and moderately depressed.

Does anybody else carry their sessions with them outside of the therapy room? This hasn't happened to me for a long time -- for nearly 3 years with my last T, he made sure to save 5 or 10 minutes at the end of the session to help me lighten up so I didn't leave feeling like crap.

Blah. I forgot what hard work this is and how much it hurts. Since I'm not really in crisis mode right now and am just having major adjustment problems to a major life change, I'm wondering if I should bother to continue -- I took care of my childhood issues, etc in my previous 8 years of therapy. I kind of feel like I don't really have a reason to be going now.

I dunno. Ideas, suggestions, helpful hints?

Candy

I'm confused...did you not suffer with the "crap" feelings in your therapy of 8yrs?? Or are you wondering if you have dealt with all your past issues?

Yes therapy is painful and hard but only because those feelings are already in us, therapy isn't doing it to us its just opening the door to reveal our pain...

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I kind of feel like I don't really have a reason to be going now.

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I think it is very important to know why you are in therapy. Why did you want to start again? Was there something specific you wanted to work on? Or something more nebulous (e.g. "feeling better")? Both are OK. Maybe you can journal a bit to discover why you have returned to therapy. Or talk about goals with your T. If you can't think of any reason you are in therapy, maybe indeed you don't need to be there.

I don't think it is unusual to feel the ramifications of therapy outside of session. As they say, most of therapy goes on outside of therapy.

I can’t really say whether you need to be going or not…that is up to you. Maybe you could make a list of pros and cons or brainstorm about what you really want to get out of therapy.

I get a “hang over” too. What really helps with me is journaling. I have therapy until 6 PM and I reserve the rest of the night to journaling about what I worked on in session. It helps me resolve loose ends.

Yes, previous therapy related to abuse issues made me feel terrible, but I have been out for a long while and had forgotten that part. And my last T, as I said, took time every session to lighten it up enough that there wasn't any hangover when I left.

I am going because I have absolutely no support system in this town -- I moved 250 miles away from mine. I'm having a horrible time adjusting to where I live now, which is a very small town -- I came from a big city and the culture shock is immense. There are things I need to work on that seem to be a perpetual need. I just meant that I don't have any problems that seem that pressing to me, compared to what people usually go to therapy for -- I've been there, done that, and gotten the Tshirt.

I think allot of times we dont know the true reason why we need therapy. Maybe you can give it a few more sessions. It seems like you can work on building a support system and creating more social interaction.

Hey candybear, how about talking with this T about how you feel crappy when session is over and about your former T taking time at the end of the session to help lighten you up?

And even about your doubt/hesitation/(resistance?) too.

ECHOES