The Couch - Cent Dix (110): A Little Bit of Everything, A Whole Lotta Nothing

****. There are people moving in next door and it sounds like they are about ready to come through the wall. It's 8 freaking o'clock in the morning.

Art, please be kind to yourself. I don't know how you could know what was going on with him unless he told you, if he was hiding it well? Also, sorry if this is too blunt, but it sounds like it's time to re-examine the gambling money being used by your husband...that money could be put to better use. I see no reason for you to automatically assume you need to quit therapy.

((((((Artemis)))))) Don't blame yourself. You are not psychic. You did the best you could.

I hope you can find some way to afford therapy for both of you.

Art - is there no counseling program available through his school? Or any way you could simply cut back on your own sessions but not discontinue them? Your therapist seems very important to you and I get the impression you're still getting something out of seeing her.

The more darkly comic the movie the better in my opinion.

I agree. I don't think it needs to be all or nothing. Insurance also might cover the son's therapist or one could go just once a month while the son went weekly or even just take a few months off while the son went and then Art could go back when the sone goes to college. It is quite possible the son will not need or want to do it for that long.

Hurrah! The kids on our street have gone away for easter, no annoying disobedient boys calling for my daughter then trapsing through my house and ignoring me when I tell them it's time to go home!

I arrived home from the hospital yesterday! T called and encouraged me every day.
It was nice to be able to sleep in this morning....no lab work at 3:30am..no vitals taken at 6am.

I am going to miss all that free food, though. The food was actually not half bad.
ALL of the nurses were nice, knowledgeable and my advocate. I received more information from the nurses than the doctors. 😁

I'm glad you're well enough to go home.

I have several books about psychotherapy that I would like to give away when I feel better. One title is, "In Session." I would mail them as long as the person receiving them would pay shipping costs. Not interested in profit ..not well enough.. I just don't want it to cost me anything. Any idea how to do this?

Either that, or I can donate them to our local library. They say there is no guarantee they would keep them...they might sell them or something.

I just want the books to be useful, if possible.

I've been there with my own sons. Don't go into panic mode. First, do you have insurance that will cover his therapy? If so, be sure to find a therapist that is covered which will cut down a great deal on the expense.

One thing that was different with my sons was that when they needed therapy, it was much more short term and not as frequent as my own or my husband's therapy. We worked with it for the few months they needed therapy. I don't think my husband or I had to reduce our own sessions much, and since our co-pays weren't horrendous, we just did some cutting back in some other areas. I think the oldest only did about 4 or 5 sessions and decided he could figure out the rest on his own (and he did). The middle one did maybe 3 or 4 months of sessions (about every 10 days or so) and then he also was doing much better and didn't feel the need to continue.

We assume, because of our own experiences with therapy, that everyone's therapy will be long-term and extensive, when in actuality, I think most people are more like my sons. Their issues are not entangled in horrendous abuse, major mental illness, etc., and they are able to get enough relief and understanding of their issues to work through them on their own after a short period of time working with a therapist who can help them see the direction they need to go.

Slow yourself down and try not to consider this a failure on your part (it's not) or a major catastrophe (it's not), but just one of those bumps in the road that you will maneuver through. If this was a temporary illness or injury that required extra doctor's visits or something, you'd manage that. This is probably more along that lines than a long-term all-encompassing therapy situation.

Well said, Lolagrace. I hadn't looked at it like that, but now that I do, I realize my sister only had about 6 sessions (CBT) and was then 'cured'.

Thank you SO much lolagrace for once again being the voice of reason for me. I appreciate your input. And you're right, I was making an assumption that his would need to be intensive and long term like mine. He even said to me, "I don't need to go as often as you do." And I talked with h about it last night, he was actually very supportive and told me that I don't have to completely quit my therapy. Just cut back on it. Which I've been wanting to do anyway. More than anything else, what threw me into a tizzy was thinking that I failed my son as a mother. Thanks for sharing about your experience with your sons.

Thanks. He did hide it well, plus I was dealing with my own severe depression at the time and I couldn't see anything clearly.

Not too blunt. I feel the same way about h's poker money. And I'm going to talk with him about that. Like I responded to lolagrace, the biggest part of me freaking out was feeling like I failed my son..... which put me into global-thinking, all-or-nothing mode.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Thanks. My head is much calmer this morning. I did some checking into our insurance while I was at work this morning, and he can actually get 5 sessions covered 100%!! I think that must be new this year, because I don't remember that being the case before. I just have to let them assign someone to him, which shouldn't be a problem. If he doesn't get on with them, he can request someone else. And if he goes beyond that, then I'll just cut back on mine. After the initial 5, his would be covered at the normal copay of $50 which is half what I pay for mine, so I would just cut back my own to once a month or something.

I really did panic last night. Mostly due to feeling like I failed my child. I hope I didn't miss anybody who responded to my post about this. Gonna go back and check.

Thank you SO much. What you said about him trusting me enough to confide in me that he needs help - that brought tears to my eyes (in a good way) and you are so very right. Instead of panicking that I failed him, I should focus on what I did right, which whatever it might have been (being good enough or wahtever) it resulted in him trusting me with this - which is a huge thing - and yes that is what counts. And we'll get him the help he needs. Thank you again.

I liked Heathers. Have watched it several times.

He doesn't like the counselor at school. My t is really important to me you're right and I do still get a lot out of our work together. And just even the t relationship itself is still so healing for me. We'll work out spacing out my sessions or something.

I have a much clearer head about it this morning. Like in my other responses to y'all the panic last night was due to my feeling like I failed my son absolutely. But there's no absolutes in life except we're born and we die and we pay taxes in between, and I"m thankful he trusts me enough to come to me with this and we'll work it out. The fact that he trusts me means I did something right, which means I didn't fail.

thank you!

I once taught a class with five people named Heather in it. No lie.

Sent from my mobile device using Tapatalk.

I was one of three people with my name in our girl scouts group (that had about 20 people in it). And my name isn't THAT common.

My mothers sister just called me to wish me happy easter. We actually had a nice talk! She doesnt dream about my (dead) mom; i told her i dream about her all the time. She told me to tell my mom to visit her for a change!

I'm home from the hospital. Discharged yesterday. Thank goodness.
I'll just rest on the couch a while and recuperate.

The neighbor's kids have been up and down the hall, giving everyone a little Easter basket. I am now in possession of six Cadbury creme eggs. Gross they may be, but they're free!

(((Pre))) you look good!!!

I have wondered the same thing about my psych books. Like could we just ship them to doc john, and he could ship them out.

We need a poll: cadbury creme eggs, trick or treat?

I like cadbury creme eggs.
I really like russell stover strawberry eggs - they remind me of my mother. I am not big on strawberry flavored things, but every year after we got past the easter bunny basket phase, we always got one on our plate at easter lunch. And my mother would bring the ham in and feign surprise at seeing them on each plate and we would all say in unison "look, the easter bunny came" and then laugh like maniacs. I know it isn't really funny sounding - but it amused us to no end.