What does your therapy session usually look like?

What would would we experience if we sat in the room with you?

[MessyD]

Me staring into space, or giggling when I don't know what to say
And talking about why is it hard to talk about some things

[zoiecat]

Either EMDR, me dissociating and having a hard time dealing with what we are talking about, or T reading a 2 page paper I wrote and responding to everything I said. The final one is my favorite and the kind of session I get the most out of.

Oh yeah and then there is therapist asking me several times what emotions I'm feeling right now and where am I feeling that in the body and me arguing that I don't know and I hate emotions. Then he tells me to look at my list of emotion words and I tell him who cares what does it really matter I hate emotions it goes on and on.6

[stopdog]

I go in. I say some stuff. I see time is up. I stand up. I toss money on her table. I leave.

[satsuma]

Probably looks like a woman (me) talking too much about random stuff while my T tries to be patient and tries to steer us towards useful things.
Of course for me it's really intense, but probably of someone else was in the room or watching they would find it boring.

[Lemoncake]

Switching between parts and crying an awful lot.

[coolibrarian]

I usually go in with a list of things to talk about, like stuff that happened or didn't happen since my last session (I see her every 2 weeks.). Sometimes I return to topics from previous sessions.

[Fernwehxx]

"How havw you been?"
"Fine."
T gives me her look.
"Ok, sorry, wrong answer for you. Time to take off the normal-mask..."

I either give her sth I prepared for the session to start a discussion, or she starts on a topic to get me to talk.

Then, we go from there.
I fight with myself a lot because theres always so much I want to say but can't becauae I have serious issues talking about emotions. Im glad she can deal with it and usually our session go smoothly. Aometumea o get hard-headed or stuck and things go nowhere it seems, but usually I figure that out between sessions and we can go from there after I've had my time to think about it nore thoroughly.

If im her last client, we sometimes walk out together chitchatting and part in the parking lot.

I have DID.
we hug t, we chit chat , we laugh, we switch about 15 times and take turns talking, some cry, some tell jokes,some fight with t, we show t pictures, we laugh some more, we usually have a snack or might go get something to eat, we switch some more, we chit chat some more.
a few hours later, we say goodbye.
outsiders looking in would probably feel dizzy.

[fille_folle]

My sessions are spent making my T try to read my mind. Sometimes I'll say some stuff, beat around the bush. Other times I'm trying to keep from dissociating away and almost forget T is there. Watching me.

Sometimes I bring her something I've written, and that is always a good thing. Then she reads it while I try to make myself disappear through sheer force of will. Then she asks me if we can talk about what I've written, and I say yes. She asks me some questions to clarify things. Then she basically tells me what my writing tells her and relates it to my experiences and offers alternative ways of thinking.

There are really long silences while my T patiently waits for me to stop being such a headcase and talk. I sit in stubborn or dissociative silence until she asks me what I'm thinking or if I feel safe. I mumble something and we go back and forth until she can make out my words. Then I spend some time trying to read the titles of her books. Then go back to obsessing over what I should tell her, what I shouldn't tell her, and what horrible things she must be thinking when she looks at me. Sometimes I try to work up the courage to look at her, especially when she's talking so that she knows I'm listening. I usually can't, but do sometimes look at her shoes.

Then she tells me we're out of time and I flee before anything bad can happen.

[ElectricManatee]

My T greets me in the waiting room. I follow her down the hallway to her office. If I'm in a decent mood, I usually comment on something or maybe make a joke. If I'm not in a decent mood, I usually just sit down on the couch. My T closes the door and sits in an armchair across from me. For the first 10-15 minutes, I do most of the talking. Then we talk a bit more back and forth. Sometimes at the very end she talks more than me while I nod and look thoughtful. With a minute or so left, she scoots forward in her chair, usually smiling. Then she walks over to her desk and I move to the chair in front of it to confirm my next appointment. Then she opens the door, says "take care" or "see you soon," and I walk out by myself.

[MRT6211]

Hmm...well...lately it’s involved a lot of yelling...from both of us...I’ve been challenging to deal with lately and T isn’t having any of my nonsense.

But typically it goes something like this:
*plops down in chair in front of T*
T: “what’s going on?”
Me: “ugghhhh you know, lifeeee...”
T: “yeah I feel you”
Me: *blabbers about life issues and includes way too many details because I am very bad at being succint* *looks at clock* “oh geezus we went over again didn’t we...”
T: “yeah...it’s fine...don’t worry”
Me: *worries*

...yeah that’s pretty much it 😅

[annielovesbacon]

I sit in the waiting room until T comes out and she follows me into her office. We start off with just a minute of small talk while we get settled in our chairs, then she asks me what I want to focus on that day. Sometimes I will go back to an old/consistent issue and sometimes I will bring up something new or something that happened recently.
Honestly, you would see a lot of laughing. I am a naturally goofy person and that doesn't change when I'm in therapy. I do use humor to deflect (although I've gotten better at that), but most of the time I'm just generally making jokes. T has a similar sense of humor so she laughs too, but she tries to keep me on track and not digress too much.
We often will sit in silence. Sometimes I will answer a question, and she will think for a while before responding. Or it will take me a while to answer one of her questions (usually I will immediately say "I don't know" and she asks me to sit and think about it for a while).
She looks me in the eyes a lot. When neither of us is talking it almost feels like we're having a staring contest. It used to feel really weird and uncomfortable, but now I'm used to it and it's comforting.
You'd also hear me being constantly self-deprecating and my T saying "Uh-uh. Try again." (Apparently "because I'm stupid" is not an acceptable answer. )
Then when time is up she walks me out to the front desk and we schedule our next appointment. When it's scheduled she says "Bye Annie, see you then, have a good day!"

[RaineD]

T asks a question.
Me: I don't know.
T: That doesn't help us.
Me: I know.
**We sit there and stare at each other.**

T: Is this helpful?
Me: I don't know.
T: Is this helping you move towards your goal?
Me: I don't even know what my goals are anymore.
T: Can we explore that?
Me: Sure.
**I proceed to resist the discussion.**

[junkDNA]

ts previous client leaves. t spends about 10 minutes in the bathroom. T comes out and greets me. If the weather is okay we walk our usual path thru downtown. Usually takes 30 minutes. We talk during that time. Then we come back and either just sit and talk or play a game and talk. We say bye, sometimes we hug, confirm next appointment time, and I leave

[feileacan]

Originally Posted by RaineD

T asks a question.
Me: I don't know.
T: That doesn't help us.
Me: I know.
**We sit there and stare at each other.**

T: Is this helpful?
Me: I don't know.
T: Is this helping you move towards your goal?
Me: I don't even know what my goals are anymore.
T: Can we explore that?
Me: Sure.
**I proceed to resist the discussion.**

That sounds very familiar to me. Although my T is smart enough not to say things like "that doesn't help us" etc because if he would say such things using negative expressions then I would have succeeded in luring him into my trap where he must admit that he is useless and has no idea how to help me.

A good working relationship.

[ChickenNoodleSoup]

He gets me from the waiting room, we shake hands and walk to his room in silence. Then I lie down as much as possible on the chair he provides for clients (certainly not meant to lie down on, but whatever). He asks "So, what about you?" or something similar, and I usually skip right to the most important stuff, because I never really feel like smalltalk, and I want to have time for what I need to discuss.

Then I talk for maybe a few minutes, when I'm done he asks questions. Usually around that time I start crying, which continues until about 5-10 minutes before end of session. I usually have my eyes closed for most of the time too. He will start talking more towards the end, explaining concepts, making sure I understand the stuff we discuss, trying to explain behaviors. Whatever is appropriate at the time.

Then at the 5-10 minute mark, I open my eyes, sit up a bit more straight. If he still thinks he has some point to make, he will continue to do so while I nod. Then we discuss eventual scheduling issues/questions, sometimes I give him something to read for next week. Then we wrap up, shake hands to say good bye, and usually I get accompanied by "see you next week, and you can always call if you need to before that" on the way out.

[pepper_mint]

When I come in and sit I usually don't know what to say (T never asks first).
So I usually think "Damn, it's happening again, I have nothing to say, I have to say something! It's therapy, I need it, I have to talk to recover! I'm wasting time!"
And finally I say something not very important, it depends on the day:
- how exhausted/sleepy I'm
- that I don't feel like doing therapy today
- that I had a dream
- or about some other events which I think are not important enough for the therapy.

Then there is a silence from time to time.
And I'm getting frustrated that I should talk about emotions, family, childhood and other important things and not stupid work events.

Sometimes finally when half of the session is over I start talking about more important things, feelings, my deeper thoughts. But usually I feel tense at the beginning which also sucks.

Then it's the end and I feel bad that I didn't use the whole session for things that matter. But sometimes when I feel calmer and it's easier to talk I'm happy after the sesion