In Session Today: Part VI

Well, looks like we need a new IST (Which rhymes nicely with "what have I missed" but I'll spare you all the poem).
Anyway...

Here is a place to talk about what happened in your therapy session (or via email/text/phone with your T too)

Everyone is welcome to write about anything that has happened in therapy recently, be it sad, scary, confusing, funny, silly or anything in between.

Continued from https://forums.psychcentral.com/psyc...ay-part-v.html

Extra T session today. We talked. It was helpful. I paid. I left.

> End thread.

When this thread tradition began, wasn’t it understood that responses were discouraged? If so I’d like to suggest that understanding return. People can start a thread if they want responses, or they can say in their post whether or not they want them.

People often feel vulnerable when posting here. Let them deal with responses only if they want them.

Nooooooo!! I love your write ups 😭

Aw, thanks. They'll return--I just couldn't write about this session because of what it was about (see: closed thread).

I think that was the case for Dear T, not sure for this one. But I agree that it might be good if posters say "no responses please" or "responses welcome." Maybe the rule being "no responses" unless the poster says it's welcome? Like default is no response. (Or "Please PM me if you have response.") I certainly don't want what happened with me to discourage people from posting--I love reading about other people's sessions.

Your write ups both helped me understand therapy when I first started and sparked me to join PC. They're so well-written and genuine. I hope you will continue to craft them. I look forward to them.

I think not having people constantly respond to things would be nice as well. If somebody really wants comments they can still put a "feel free to respond", but overall I think no responses would be better. Like that people don't feel that they'll have to read how other people disagree with whatever they were saying and so on.
Or maybe since responses initially were not really the issue at all in the old thread: not having discussions about things that are off topic. I think something like 'that was a good session write up' is okay. But having it develop into a three page discussion where people only talk about one persons therapy is not really the idea of this thread I think. If it's not possible to implement a 'no large discussions' (where large would have to be defined appropriately), then no responses by default would be better in my opinion.

I think that's why we'd need some sort of 'no huge discussions' rather than a 'no replies at all'. It's totally fine for you to say something, but then other people had to start making a huge deal out of it and it continued for three pages, where really it should have been 'hey this bothers me' - 'okay, sorry, deleted' - end of discussion.

Yes, I think something like "Sounds like a good session, you were very vulnerable with your T, great job!" is fine. Though if someone doesn't want that of course be open to saying it.

A forum where responses are not encouraged and replies are ruled out! An excellent idea! How about we all get together and bake some cakes we never eat? Or a book club without pages?

Yes, I mostly agree with you. I enjoyed the SorryOozit and DP double act though tbh.

I love you

Mods if you could let this IST survive I would really appreciate it. I would like a place to write up my session tomorrow.

I think she's got a soft spot for me.

Maybe we need an "In Session Today" then a separate "Discussion About In Session Today" forum.

Maybe we need a three stooges thread.

Hopefully it does and you can, I'd like to read it.

I've had some responses to my session writeups that were meaningful and I'm very glad to have had them. I'd feel weird writing "responses okay" because I'd worry it seemed like I was asking for or expected responses.
Maybe different post icons could mean that responses are okay or not? Like the yellow speech bubble = responses okay/welcome

(Sorry for using people as examples, can be replaced by anyone, it just popped into my head as this right now)


Rather a forum where offtopic discussions are discouraged. If I open this thread, I expect to read: Session of Echos. Maybe some reply saying it sounded like a good session. Session of LT. Maybe a similar reply. And so on.

What I don't expect is what I read half the time: Session of LT. 5 people: great, good job, how do you feel. Some offering their advice on stuff of the session. Some derailing and commenting on the T. Session of Echos. Somebody saying sounds like a good session, how do you feel? Somebody answers something about LTs session. Echos answers his question. Now we already got two separate discussions that are not at all about the sessions anymore...

If you want to discuss things, open a thread to discuss it or discuss it on the couch or something. This thread should be for posting about the session. Not the session, the T, whether you agree with the T, whether the sun is yellow...

A Jungian's view of it:
The Vessel | Jung At Heart

But admittedly - I do not understand the desire to literally transcribe every minute of an appointment or to get (or give) accolades for the appointment interactions - that seems a tad strange to me. But the list of things that seem strange to me in general is probably long and not the same as the lists of everyone else.
I don't care one way or the other if people do it - just, like most of how others approach therapy, foreign to me.

I haven't read this thread for a while, so maybe out of place...

Echos, regarding your post on the closed thread, I noted the difference your T is referring to is interacting with displaced feelings (fuels transference) vs interacting with genuine feelings (doesn't fuel transference).

It's not the subject of the feelings, it's the nature of them. Using displaced due to lack of a better word.

I agree with this. Open hearted responses enrich the forum.

If one wants a discussion over one's particular appointment - why not just start a specific thread on it?