Resistance to therapy?

Just wondered if anyone else finds them self thinking “I’m actually probably fine, I don’t really need therapy”. When they do need it?

It’s hard and it makes me not want to go to therapy, I tell myself it’s a waste of time and money but deep down I know it’s not. I guess it’s a form of resistance.

Anyone experienced the same thing?

Find the right T for you and your situation. I feel that therapy in the wrong environment can be a waste of time and money and can be traumatic. If you're uncomfortable for whatever reason, working on personal issues becomes more difficult. Please don't let external factors stop yourself from self-improvement. There are many resources including group therapy, online support groups and self-help workbooks. Your progress doesn't need to be put on hold because you haven't found a professional that you get along with and can work on a trusting relationship with

I'm not really interested in the labels the therapists use like resistance, counter transference, etc (I prefer just to describe my experiences). But after 9 years with the same therapist, I still confirm my next standing appointment because I've made it clear to him that I'm not committing beyond the next session I agree to. I've taken breaks, skipped sessions, gone down to every other week and then back up again. Is it resistance? I don't know but I have learned that sitting in that room and dealing with what is really going on with me, past, present, and future, is positive for the change I want to see in myself and in my life. It helps me keep my goals front and center. I've accept that I often don't feel like going because it is "work" for me, sometimes even the drive to the far suburbs from my city home is enough to make me not want to go. And it's not like I feel some immediate relief or improvement or benefit, or even that I enjoy seeing my T. I do feel comfortable with him, much like the physical therapist I worked with for 9 months weekly. It's a place where I get done what I need to get done, like regular exercise.

For me the everyday stress of work and life is enough to justify therapy, even though I'd say I've healed from my past traumas for the most part. I think wanting therapy or having the desire for self improvement and the belief therapy helps you with that is enough. You don't need severe symptoms or a diagnosis.

It's really just a commitment I've made to myself. As with the commitments I make to other people, sometimes it is just that which drives me to therapy. So that's my version of "resistance." I've heard from others, on this board and elsewhere, and from my therapist, that this is common.

Here are links to 5 articles, from PC's archives, that address the topic of resistance in therapy. Perhaps there is some information in these articles that may be of some help:

Resistance in Therapy-Why You May Not Be Getting Better

Ten Signs You May Be Resistant To Therapy

15 Ways You Are Resisting Therapy or Recovery | Caregivers, Family & Friends

Family Myths as Resistance to Therapy | Psychoanalysis Now

4 ways You Might Be Resisting Treatment | Dialectical Behavior Therapy Understood

In the very beginning of my journey. Not as I began to see therapy can be of use to anyone. Need or no need.

Resistance implies there is something inevitable about it, as if therapists are oracles or your new mommy/daddy and you better submit or else. It's a manipulative concept used to recruit and retain customers. It's also totally creepy, in the vein of cults and other such organizations. Example:

"Resistance is a term mental health professionals use to describe a group of clients who refuse to learn, grow, change, or progress in therapy."

I realized deep down that it is a waste of time and money.

Sometimes I think the opposite “I need therapy” when maybe I don’t anymore. I still find it useful but need is a strong word

I do not believe that a client can be resistant to therapy. I think therapists label clients when therapy is not working or the therapist fails.

Client resistance is super common in therapy. I actually just talked to my therapist about this because I felt like I was being resistant.

I think most of us can get by without therapy. I wouldn’t die if I didn’t go every week. But for me, therapy makes the difference between existing and living. My therapist pushes me to do things I wouldn’t otherwise do, that enhance my life.

I can very much relate to what you’ve said. I function just fine in the real world, but deep down it feels like something is missing which I guess is why I sought out therapy. It’s tough for me to go each week, but I’ve essentially made a pact with myself to go each week no matter how tough it is for me to get there. I like my T, so if I’m going to do this with anyone it might as well be him, but it has felt strangely harder than I expected and in ways I did not expect. My T has never even come close to labeling me as resistant, but instead says we should continue to explore why it is so hard for me.

Yes, I experience that all the time. And I definitely think in my case it's resistance. Not in any pejorative sense, just as a reality that there are ways that parts of me push back against attempts at change and growth, for perfectly good reasons that are worth examining and also nevertheless counterproductive.

I find myself thinking at least once or twice a week that I should probably not bother with therapy, that I'm really fine and don't need help and should be making better use of that time and energy. I've thought that far far more often and more seriously with past attempts at therapy, but at this point I've become pretty aware of how that train of thought functions for me, and my current therapist is really excellent at working with my resistance in a productive, non-blaming way, so that form of resistance doesn't carry as much weight as it used to.