[stopdog]

Have you ever had what you considered a therapy break- through?
Did you know it when it happened? Did the therapist tell you?
Why would a client believe what a therapist says?
How did you know that is what it was?

[SlumberKitty]

Yes, I've had breakthroughs in therapy. When something got said for the millionth time and it finally stuck. And it was like, OH! I get it now! Yes I know when it happened. No the therapist didn't tell me. I would believe most of what my therapists have said to me, except for #3 who was rather mean.

[missbella]

I thought I had an instant breakthrough. My blood pressure dropped and I cried. I thought everything would be different from then out. Then life went on. No breakthrough at all.

[mostlylurking]

Yes, I experienced a very distinct, epiphany-like moment during a therapy session when I accepted my younger self as not being horrible or disgusting, even though I got picked on incessantly in school at the age we had been talking about. It was like my younger self said (not literally -- in feelings) "I'm not really that despicable, am I?" and I suddenly felt like "No -- no you are not." I had a feeling like an older kid taking a younger one under their wing and comforting them. I was so distracted and moved by what was going on internally that I really didn't say anything much the rest of that session but told my T about it next session.

Most of my other realizations / epiphanies happened outside of session and were a lot smaller than that one, but they were pretty regular, nearly every week.

I’ve had one noticeable “breakthrough.” According to my therapist, I’ve learned a lot and grown a lot since I first walked through her door... I’m not fully convinced, but I’ll acknowledge that one breakthrough.

I knew it was a “breakthrough” because I was talking for the first time about a series of very difficult memories about someone I grew up with that I never, ever thought I’d speak about in my life. I didn’t mean to, but she caught on to something I said and asked. It opened up a lot of stuff, and I feel like something was “resolved” because it’s now no longer totally a secret. I also was able to discuss aspects of it with the person involved. I didn’t go to therapy because of that topic—again, I planned to never address it in public—so it was an accidental eye-opening.

[velcro003]

I had two mini-epiphanies during therapy, but not with my regular T. It while I was at a crisis stabilization place.

I've had many. Usually they come as me pouring out my problem and then finding my own solution while my therapist just adds to it. It is an amazing feeling.

[LonesomeTonight]

I said "all the time," but I don't think it's almost every appointment. More like once a month or every two months.

I said 'no' but maybe when I was finally done with therapy for good.

[CharlieStarDust]

I chose yes, but maybe should have chosen 'other.' I've had several moments where I was faced with a situation and all the stuff I learned in therapy/discussed endlessly suddenly clicked and I chose to step out of my comfort zone/regular MO, and opt for doing things differently. Does that count?

[atisketatasket]

I think my only breakthrough in therapy was realizing therapy was a deeply flawed system, even more flawed than I thought.

[nottrustin]

There have been a few times that T jad discussed an issues from different angles. All of a sudden something made sense and I had an aha moment.

[maybeblue]

Yes. I have had a few. One that I remember vividly is when he and I were talking about black and white thinking...or maybe more I was talking. He was sort of sitting there nodding. I said that I didn't think I had a huge problem with it. I am able to hold two ideas in my head at once. I gave the example of I can be really mad at him and think he screwed up, but at the same time I can still believe he is a good therapist. Sometimes I'm not sure he appreciates my examples.

But then like 5 minutes later I was talking about how I ate a donut, and what a horrible, terrible person I was. And he didn't say a word. He just looked at me. And I said something like, huh...seems like maybe if I can do whole not black and white thinking thing with other people, I ought to be able to learn to do it to myself.

And I remember that still. And I also kind of feel like a donut now.

[tomatenoir]

Mini breakthroughs. Sometimes he'll make a comment and it's so dead on that I will need to just stop for a few minutes because I can't process anything else.

[LostOnTheTrail]

The person I saw before P broke down my defences, so that I was able to express emotion. That was a breakthrough of sorts.

Yes, partly due to her, partly through my own hard work as I researched about parenting and revised my beliefs toward how children should be raised.

We had been doing imagery exercises off and on where she was protecting my younger self, comforting my younger self, being assertive towards the perpetrators. I didn't believe in imagery and I often told her I felt it was BS, but I liked what she would say in them. So I tolerated the exercises.

She started wanting to coach me to step in as my Adult Self to protect and comfort my younger self but I felt hatred and urges to hurt my younger self every time she tried. I however did feel protectiveness, compassion and courage if I imagined the exercise to be about any other child other than myself.

Following a case study of woman who had no compassion for her younger self but plenty of compassion for her young daughter, I adopted her adaptation of metta: "May she be safe. May we be safe."

I didn't believe it still, but I kept doing it and listening to the words my therapist said whenever we did imagery... Then one day, I felt a flickering feeling of protectiveness and desire to help my younger self. With a lot of coaching, and a great deal of struggling with my wavering voice, I was able to "step in and finish" the imagery exercise with my Adult Self comforting and protecting my younger self.

She considered that a huge breakthrough. So do I.

[nottrustin]

One of my biggest breakthroughs was one day I was having a hard time telling her something. She asked if I was afraid she would judge me. I told her a part of me knew she wouldn't. Then she asked "are you afraid I will judge you or is it you that judges you? Huge lightbulb moment. I realize I am my own worst critic.

[annielovesbacon]

Just one that I can remember. We were talking about my eating disorder relapse and I kept repeating that I didn't understand why I had relapsed, but we kept talking through it and suddenly the reason dawned on me. That helped me try to get better because I saw the problem from a different angle.