[Echos Myron redux]

Welcome to the couch, old and new! A place to hang out - sometimes you get immediate feedback, sometimes you don't.

Shouting, "Cool Whip" tends to bring others out from between the cushions if you're feeling lonely.

This is a chatty thread. All are welcome. We're kind of psychologically oriented, sometimes. We try to be supportive. At times we discuss what that means.
It’s a place to plop down on the couch when you come home from work or wherever, or wake up in the middle of the night, or check in at lunch, rant a bit or not, and be among friends.

We advise you not to drink or drug and text your therapist ("T") - we speak from experience.

Sometimes the thread moves fast and you might get overlooked; sometimes it moves slowly and all you hear are crickets. Sometimes you get hugged or thanked pages later. So if it's a bigger question, you might want to start a new thread.

Grab a cushion, a spot on the floor, or an armchair in the corner and make yourselves comfy!

[CantExplain]

Thanks, Echos!

[unaluna]

Cute name!

[Echos Myron redux]

Originally Posted by unaluna

Cute name!

Can't resist a pun. I'm my father's daughter.

[Echos Myron redux]

Ooh look what I found

[unaluna]

This is where it put me. 1965, geez! 7th-8th grade?! But an absolutely great song!

Eta - gorgeous, hilarious pillow!

[Lemoncake]

Originally Posted by here today

Well, maybe I'd better grab a seat before this couch is gone. Due to temperament, "issues" or whatever I really don't know how to hang out. Well, that and expecting/anticipating rejection, I guess. Which the scammy therapy establishment did help me get in touch with, I guess, after more than 50 years, by eventually re-triggering the original trauma. How horrendously horrible. How "impossible" to get through. Only maybe now if I have, what do I do now?

I still think therapy is scammy, and takes too long, even if it can eventually get to core issues, for some people. But can't for others, so sometimes leaves them/us worse off. Does that mean I can't hang out with the rest of you, though?

Nope- the more the merrier. Quite a few regulars on the couch are T less.

[Lemoncake]

Oooo that's a nice cushion!

[Echos Myron redux]

I'm feeling very playful today. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with yesterday's therapy session.

I slept weird last night. Also I spent a better part of the night reading very old couch threads-especially the ones where I was in therapy. It was very weird going back and reading about the attachment I had with that therapist, all the anxiety I have experienced due to different things, how emotionally immature I was back then, how distraught I was over the termination, and also getting a little nostalgic. Lots of people who were on the couch back then left. And just generally how much the forum changed. I must say, I certainly reminded myself reading back why I don’t want to be in therapy anymore. I was probably more attached to that therapist than anyone else in my life back then . That was some pretty strong maternal transference going on! Wow! Never again.

[StressedMess]

Good morning couch, coffee is on, I'll post tonight when I'm more coherent.

[88Butterfly88]

Good morning, coffee sounds good right now.

[Echos Myron redux]

Originally Posted by Jersey 2.0

I slept weird last night. Also I spent a better part of the night reading very old couch threads-especially the ones where I was in therapy. It was very weird going back and reading about the attachment I had with that therapist, all the anxiety I have experienced due to different things, how emotionally immature I was back then, how distraught I was over the termination, and also getting a little nostalgic. Lots of people who were on the couch back then left. And just generally how much the forum changed. I must say, I certainly reminded myself reading back why I don’t want to be in therapy anymore. I was probably more attached to that therapist than anyone else in my life back then . That was some pretty strong maternal transference going on! Wow! Never again.

I can't even read my posts from when I was with T1. It makes me cringe. I feel so differently now.

[LonesomeTonight]

Originally Posted by Jersey 2.0

I slept weird last night. Also I spent a better part of the night reading very old couch threads-especially the ones where I was in therapy. It was very weird going back and reading about the attachment I had with that therapist, all the anxiety I have experienced due to different things, how emotionally immature I was back then, how distraught I was over the termination, and also getting a little nostalgic. Lots of people who were on the couch back then left. And just generally how much the forum changed. I must say, I certainly reminded myself reading back why I don’t want to be in therapy anymore. I was probably more attached to that therapist than anyone else in my life back then . That was some pretty strong maternal transference going on! Wow! Never again.

I found it both very interesting and very unsettling recently to look back on some of my old e-mails I'd sent to ex-T and ex-MC. With ex-T (and at times ex-MC), I realized how I sounded almost submissive to her in e-mails, like, as in: "I know I screwed up in e-mailing you, and I bothered you on vacation, so I understand why you wouldn't write back." The difference in my tone of how I write to her vs. how I write to current T is quite striking. Also the difference in how I wrote to current T when I first started seeing him vs. now--not sure if that's more about healthier dynamics in my therapeutic relationship with him (vs. ex-T or ex-MC), my growth in therapy, or some mix of the two.

She would send me texts with heart emojis on them, tell me how much she cared, told me to text and call as much as I wanted, told me I was special.
I’m sure she cared somewhat. It was 8 years of therapy but I certainly drank the kool-aid back then and it seemed like that relationship was the center of my life back then. It was way too much. I own my part in it-I was like a needy little kid. I want her to own her part that she didn’t keep good boundaries and gave me too much. She would probably never admit to that. Why am I thinking about this.
Jersey just stop.

Originally Posted by LonesomeTonight

I found it both very interesting and very unsettling recently to look back on some of my old e-mails I'd sent to ex-T and ex-MC. With ex-T (and at times ex-MC), I realized how I sounded almost submissive to her in e-mails, like, as in: "I know I screwed up in e-mailing you, and I bothered you on vacation, so I understand why you wouldn't write back." The difference in my tone of how I write to her vs. how I write to current T is quite striking. Also the difference in how I wrote to current T when I first started seeing him vs. now--not sure if that's more about healthier dynamics in my therapeutic relationship with him (vs. ex-T or ex-MC), my growth in therapy, or some mix of the two.

I’m not too sure about your Ex -T, but we all know ex-MC didn’t know how to hold a boundary and sent you a lot of mixed messages. I think with your newer T-it’s more clear consistent boundaries, more openness on his part and generally more professional (in some ways) plus you’ve have grown in your therapy journey. And you are so open and honest which is a big part of the process.

[LostOnTheTrail]

Hi Couch,

Drowning today - anybody mind if I sit and tremble a while?

Crying wasn't something I did...until now, apparently. Now at twice in two weeks...and not even in session.

Navajo rabbit...

Thanks for the new couch Echos!! I was reading the rest of the previous couch from after I went to bed last night and it took me several minutes to realize why there wasn't a "quote" button ahaha - oh yeah duh Art, there's a new couch!

I appreciate the rest of the discussion on said prev couch about my h and t stuff. H certainly seems more relaxed since our fight the other night, but we're really not talking much, either. Last evening he was glued to the tv and fell asleep in front of it as usual. I'm beginning to see the fight we had as a good thing though because I can feel myself growing as a result - yes, while it's true I capitulated and told him I wouldn't do the 2 months she asked me to commit to, I did stand my ground some anyway and tell him I'm going today and next week (maybe a 3rd session if we don't get done in 2) because analyzing my sand trays as a whole with her is important to me. I want to write the story that they tell, for ME.


Ideally yes I would want to do the 2 months or whatever, but for now, I would rather get h into marriage counseling with me and try to salvage our marriage if there's enough left of it to salvage. I'm feeling very unsure. But I still love him, am not ready to just give up.


Gotta head to work. Later, couchies!

[ruh roh]

Best to you in your session today, Art. fwiw, I wonder if you don't fear your therapist being angry so much as you might fear voicing (and acknowledging) uncomfortable truths?

I’m sitting in the social security office because I need to get a corrected card with my married name on it. I didn’t change my name until 8 years after we were married and then I only changed it on my license. Never on my social security card. So now here I sit waiting with a million other people. Although there are a few chairs next to me that is opened some chick came and sat right next to me instead of leaving a gap and she is coughing like crazy.
Didn’t lemoncake report something similar in the airport the other day? I don’t know why people do that. There are a few chairs to leave a gap. Also why do people bring toddlers to a place like this? I know not everyone can find or afford childcare and need to take care of business, but. Anyways, maybe I’m being picky and rambling.
Also I won’t even get the new card today. I will have to wait 10-14 business days for it to be mailed. This is just to prove my identity.

Originally Posted by ruh roh

Best to you in your session today, Art. fwiw, I wonder if you don't fear your therapist being angry so much as you might fear voicing (and acknowledging) uncomfortable truths?

Eek. Bullseye on that second part.

(But I don't want her to be mad, either.)

I want to move away from the woman sitting next to me because of the coughing but I don’t want to be preceived as rude (or racist).

[atisketatasket]

Originally Posted by Jersey 2.0

Didn’t lemoncake report something similar in the airport the other day? I don’t know why people do that. There are a few chairs to leave a gap.

This drives me nuts. Especially at the gym, when I will be the only one on a long row of ellipticals and someone has to take the one next to me. Even after I changed the one I usually use to move to the one in front of the TV set to Fox News (on the assumption few people around here would want to watch Fox) they STILL did it.

Originally Posted by atisketatasket

This drives me nuts. Especially at the gym, when I will be the only one on a long row of ellipticals and someone has to take the one next to me. Even after I changed the one I usually use to move to the one in front of the TV set to Fox News (on the assumption few people around here would want to watch Fox) they STILL did it.

So annoying, right? See, I’m not just being miserable and picky.

And it also bugs the hell out of me that we live in a world where if I do move-that there is that possibility that I will be preceived as a racist. Not just that I don’t want to be coughed on. I would have never sat on top of someone if I had that cough. It’s rude.