reasons for therapy

I chose the PTSD option, but the main reason was the standard "needed somebody to talk to". It was a paid substitute for a real life support system, which I mostly lack.

If I do more therapy, it would have to be someone very knowledgable about trauma and with specific interventions, including ideally things like EMDR and Neurofeedback. I would avoid like the plague any sort of advising/teaching therapy, and any vaguely-defined general talk therapy.

Im surprised to hear you speak in favor of emdr and neurofeedback. To me, those are machine telling you if you feel better or not. If you cant trust a person, how can you trust a machine being run by a person, where the machines only real function is to beep or flash faster or slower? You cant reason with it at all. At least you can disagree in words with a person. You can trust yourself in that.

I continue to go because:

1. Having a real, live human being at least pretend to be interested in what I have to say once a month lets me know that I exist and must not be completely repugnant.

2. It allows me to maintain a place and relationship where I have the option of talking about non-socially acceptable things should the need arise.

3. If, in the course of conversation, I say something Extra Crazy, I like to have this pointed out to me so that I can say, "Oh, you're right. That's a ****ed-up thinking pattern/behavior/belief. I should stop doing that."

To deal with my depression and anxiety and now dealing with this intense grief I have.

Stupidity and grief.

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My impression of EMDR is that it's very distancing between therapist and client in the sense that there's less human interaction. The therapist doesn't need to know the whole story, asks a limited type of question - the therapist is more a passive presence in the room than they are during talk therapy. It's much more wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, if you see what I mean.

So there should be less opportunity for harmful attachments to form. And therefore it might well be more trusted by those harmed by previous therapy.

Yea that is my understanding also. Reading a book on trauma right now and the author makes the point specifically that with EMDR the relationship is not so critical and traumatized clients need not worry so much about trusting the T. The author also cites a quality study were EMDR outperformed Prozac in PTSD patients. Also with EMDR I don't think there is any machine involved.

As for neurofeedback, don't know much, but i think it is a form of brain training that can reverse trauma induced patterns in the brain.

I think unaluna is referring to the lightbar many EMDR therapists use. No. 2 did EMDR (not with me), had a lightbar, and also had a set of handheld buzzers and headphones for audio stimulation. But the therapist can also tap clients on the shoulders or knees, or have the client follow their finger as they move it back and forth. Virtually any kind of sensory stimulation seems to wotk with EMDR.

I think ultimately i went to t to learn how to take responsibility for my life.

Sexuality and anxiety around that

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I started with therapy because of social anxiety and it was taking over my life. I didn't know how to deal with it.
1,5 years ago it was mostly because of depression, but also still a bit of anxiety. I couldn't get myself out the depression.
So, reason; depression and anxiety, but also low selfesteem, some things from the past that are still haunting me. To help me get my life back on track.

Dealing with past childhood and domestic abuse. I have anxiety and PTSD.

What therapy was when I began is much different than what it is now 5 1/2 years later. I initially began because I was involved in a psychologically abusive co-dependent relationship. When that got resolved I began work on accepting my sexuality. So much shame about realizing I was gay after being married for so many years. I've almost accepted that aspect of myself. Now my issues (they're not new issues but I've become more aware of them) surrounds emotions while divorcing my husband and the control he has over me. I'm facing issues of self-worth and wanting/needing to please everyone (but myself). I'm finding that I do have the ability to empower myself and I have my therapist to thank for that. She has been a life saver. And within all of these issues has run the thread of depression - sometimes acute and sometimes low fever chronic and sometimes absent.