[Fuzzybear]

I’m interested in hearing from anyone who has had one or more positive experiences in therapy, whether they are in therapy currently, or have been in therapy in the past. Also how long have you been in therapy in total?

How has therapy helped you if your childhood and or family of origin were “difficult” or traumatic?

[Taylor27]

I have been in therapy for 18 years this Sept. The first therapist i was with her for 8 years got way too attached to her the boundaries where blurred so much, however that was in the church. She terminated me in 2009 then i took some time off til 2011 then got a female social worker at the mental health. She worked with me for 2 years got fet up i was not making progress. I also had a addiction counsellor who got me right into a male psychologist, he seemed to help me quite a bit with self care, cbt, and help thought patterns. I was with him til last month. The only thing is he was too focused on AA for me and getting sponsor to help me after he retire. 5 years with him and now im with s social worker. Now that i have been sober for 18 month my past is haunting me so right now we will focus on the trauma from childhood into my twenties. PTSD, eating disorder, suicidal tendancies, depression.


Therapy has kept me living and not giving up. I think even though i have had some problems with a few therapist over all it has helped me stay out of hospital allot. I hope to be in a better place in a couple years with the new therapist im still scared i will not progress like with my previous therapist. Also now that im sober im much more able to process things and im getting better at self care.

[stopdog]

The part of therapy that I used for talking about my person's illness, the moving definition of normal surrounding her illness, her death etc was not unuseful.

[Omers]

After 25 years of struggling with T’s that didn’t work I finally have Awesome T! I have CPTSD and autism. I love my T and we have only been working together 6 ish months! He has helped me to be able to share feelings with him and needs/wants in a very simple way and now is starting to invite me to be able to ask for what I need/want and to express my feelings through objects (I have cried with him once and he knows emotions are hard for me). He is very experiential and flexible, when one thing doesn’t fix he easily switches to another. He is genuine with me and authentic and let’s me see the real him not some professional mask. Now that I am learning from him what I need to feel safe sharing my feelings and being vulnerable I am able to change how I respond to those around me when they do things that make me feel threatened or like I can’t open up to them. We started EMDR but had to back up and do some more stuff to build a foundation. For the first time since college (20 years ago) I have hope that I might get to be me instead of what my trauma created as a false protective self and I might be able to have real relationships with depth rather than just loyal superficial ones.

[Echos Myron redux]

I've been in therapy for 4.5 years with a wonderful therapist. Most definitely a positive experience. Most of it is documented here, here and there. It hasn't been without its ups and downs, but we have a great relationship and I have grown so much.

[Xynesthesia2]

Ironically, the most useful were my first Ts online videos about his interactions with his own old therapist. It was at a time (or a little bit before) when my father was going down with dementia that spanned >2 years, and I was scared and clueless as to how to interact with someone with dementia, let alone my (beloved, smart, originally super organized) father. My first T's online media really helped, what I now regard as, my greatest closure of my life (during the last month of my dad).... I can't say anything similarly significant about my actual therapy sessions. My second T helped a bit to overcome a virtual communication compulsion and I also liked his overall professional style, picked up a few things from his communication.

[Anne2.0]

I have had three long term therapists: 2 years, 3 years, 15 year break, and then now 10 years. They have all been pretty good. Also, my child had a therapist after the loss of his father, and he was also really good; I sat in on some sessions.

My childhood was traumatic, with CSA and emotional neglect. With each therapy I have worked on understanding what happened and how it changed me, and moving forward on making changes in my life. Mostly I learned to be close to people without freaking out or pushing them away, then I learned to not give so much of myself away in relationships. Now I think I do better being present in relationships, being a supportive and empowering parent, and making healthier choices about who and how I will become involved with people. I tell the truth more and am better able to listen to the truth too. I think therapy has had indirect effects on my interpersonal relationships, because as I've developed better self awareness and understanding about myself, my relationships feel more free and open, and I have more fun, and greater intimacy. And I think I've benefited directly from therapy, because my current T makes it feel safe to take risks and say the truth of things and also observe his responses to me.

[Salmon77]

I've been in therapy about five years and it's been a very beneficial experience for me. It helps me to see how my childhood resulted in beliefs and assumptions that lead to problems today, and how some of those beliefs and assumptions are no longer true or useful, how they hold me back from doing what I want or what is good for me at times. I feel like I'm becoming more free, more honest and more connected with myself and other people.

[speckofdust]

I have been in "talk" therapy off and on over the past 11 years. I have taken a total of approximately 2 years off cumulatively. I have fluctuated between 1 time a week, and 1 time a month, with variations in between. Talk therapy with my T who has her PhD in psychology has literally kept me alive.

Back in October (2018), I got blindsided by severe (debilitating, almost) anxiety. That got me going back to a psych doc for meds. The anti-anxiety meds helped a lot, but not totally. I got stuck in the pit of depression and anxiety. I needed something to throw a rope ladder down to me in order for talk therapy to move forward. I decided to try hypnotherapy (started about 6 weeks ago). That has genuinely helped get that ladder to me, and get me climbing out of the pit.

As I continue to pull myself closer to the exit for the pit, I will be able to discontinue the hypnotherapy in a few weeks, and go back to doing talk therapy only. All of my "healers," as I refer to them, have provided me invaluable tools and information to help me in many, many ways. I'm actually starting to feel hope and peace more and more now. [On a side note, therapies that did not work for me, but do work for others, are TMS, Art Therapy, and anti-depressants]. Each person's mileage may vary - we are individuals - and what works for some doesn't necessarily work for others.

i have had many positive experiences in therapy. I has a childhood filled with a lot of abuse. but at this point, you would never know it, i think. My therapist i have now has helped me in many ways.

She's a monumental moron and when I say that she is a monumental moron, I mean that I am a monumental moron and this is my greatest lesson so far.

[starfishing]

I had four years of good therapy over a decade ago, and am currently 2 and a half years in with the excellent therapist I see now. Some bad therapy experiences in between, but those aren't worth discussing in this thread.

My childhood was physically neglectful and emotionally abusive. Therapy has been amazingly helpful in dealing with the impact of both of those things, and in figuring out how to become more fully myself and more fully who I want to be in the present day.

[Amyjay]

I have a positive experience with my current therapist whom I have seen for nearly two years. I have a fairly stand-offish relationship with her (my choice), and find her useful for the things that I need. I suppose I am as attached to her as I am able to be (not very, although I would be greatly affected if we terminated). I have had quite a few years of therapy in the past, and some therapists I saw for very brief times as I quickly figured out they weren't offering what I wanted in a therapist (mainly that the control is all in my court, I suppose.)
For reference my file states that I endured chronic and "catastrophic" child abuse throughout my childhood and I had no close positive role models and no safe or supportive attachment figure.