Therapy triggering old self destructive behaviours

Has anyone found that therapy has triggered behaviours that they thought were in the past? I hadn't SHed or engaged in any ED behaviour in 12 years and yet these have both become problems again since being in therapy. Granted, I have also had some very big life changes in that time (having first baby, going no contact with my parents) that may well have set off these ways of coping for me again. I guess there's just part of me that wonders if the work I'm doing in therapy has contributed and was curious to see if anyone had experience of this happening too.

I found myself having severe BE experiences shortly after I started therapy. I think it was becayse I started working on tough stuff, and it was hard, so I went back to the coping mechanism I knew. I tried to simply accept it and work on the real iasues. It did get better, even though its not all gone yet.

I'm glad it's getting better for you. it makes sense to falll back on old coping mechanisms I guess. Therapy is hard. I think you're right about trying to accept it, my T has said this too...I have a hard time accepting anything about myself and these behaviours are just so...well...unacceptable to me I suppose. I really thought I'd never be in such a bad place with it all again, I'm shocked really at how it's all taken hold. Feel like its ruling my life at the moment. Sometimes I worry that it's caused by therapy, but I guess I'm just looking for someone to blame.

i feel therapy seems to make things worse. i truly regret ever going, especially when you get attached, because you feel stuck there. i think i was better off before therapy. I'm not sure who i am anymore even and I'm always sad or anxious abut something

Yea, & it's so deflating. Yea, there is a but!! For me it indicated a fall back to the easy way of making pain to away. But because in the mean time had developed coping skills that could override the actual doing & keep it in the realm of thinking. Even trust enough in my T to be able to call & say this is getting close to doing, I need to come in. That's actually taking care of myself! SH popped into my head recently. My T & I talked about why that had been the only option at the time. I even posted here asking why it worked. New skills take practice & time to put into place. Practice to become the first go to. To become entrenched. Gees, like learning that new grip in tennis...always fall back to the old, ineffective, comfortable hand position!!!!


QUOTE=Glittering;5970540]Has anyone found that therapy has triggered behaviours that they thought were in the past? I hadn't SHed or engaged in any ED behaviour in 12 years and yet these have both become problems again since being in therapy. Granted, I have also had some very big life changes in that time (having first baby, going no contact with my parents) that may well have set off these ways of coping for me again. I guess there's just part of me that wonders if the work I'm doing in therapy has contributed and was curious to see if anyone had experience of this happening too.[/QUOTE]

DP, I'm so sorry you feel this way. This is what terrifies me. I feel extremely attached and alternate between feeling like I can't bear to see her because it's too painful, and then like I can't possibly live without her. So I relate to feeling trapped.

cavaliers, I'm afraid the tennis analogy is slightly lost on me as I'm the least sporty person in the world ...but I get your point and it makes sense. I'm glad there is a but, and I'm glad to hear you are working through it. At the moment it is just so addictive, it's like now it's an option again I can't stop. But I do wonder i sort of have to go through it again because the first time (and second, third..) I had no support..so this is like a re run with support. If that makes sense. Still hellish though.

Shortly right after therapy all behaviors escalated. I think it might be because we are talking about a family and issues and talking about things can be traumatizing all over.

One of the main reasons I went was recovery from addiction. Therapy itself quickly became yet another obsession/addiction for me, luckily I recognized this after a while and did not get stuck in it for very long, but it took some trial and error to be done with it for good. What I still kinda resent is that the Ts (one more than the other) clearly saw what was going on, I also told them in detail, and they were discouraging my stopping it.

Gittering.....when was !earning tennis, my coach told me I was holding the racket wrong. Holding it in a way that always ended up causing my wrist to hurt every time I hit the ball hard. So he showed me the proper way to hold it so that wouldn't happen. Of course I was happy.no swollen wrist, longer game cuz wasn't hurting. But when I began using new grip..all was fine for a few minutes then I'd get involved in the game and my wrist would start to hurt & I'd start missing shots. Without realizing it, I'd gone back to the old way of doing it. So I had to remind myself constantly to hold it properly. Then one day, seemed like forever, I didn't think about it! Played a whole game holding it properly. Then once in awhile there would be a little twinge in my wrist and I'd just automatically adjust. Finally, it was ingrained& I just automatically did it right. Only once in a blue moon, I'd feel that pain in the wrist again. Hope this helps. Thanks for asking for clarification!



QUOTE=Glittering;5970978]DP, I'm so sorry you feel this way. This is what terrifies me. I feel extremely attached and alternate between feeling like I can't bear to see her because it's too painful, and then like I can't possibly live without her. So I relate to feeling trapped.

cavaliers, I'm afraid the tennis analogy is slightly lost on me as I'm the least sporty person in the world ...but I get your point and it makes sense. I'm glad there is a but, and I'm glad to hear you are working through it. At the moment it is just so addictive, it's like now it's an option again I can't stop. But I do wonder i sort of have to go through it again because the first time (and second, third..) I had no support..so this is like a re run with support. If that makes sense. Still hellish though.[/QUOTE]