[atisketatasket]

I’m having trouble thinking about topics for my next therapy session. Right now the biggest thing in my life is the pandemic (as in I think about it almost all the time) and I don’t feel like I need much support over that. I’m a little frustrated that all I can do is some volunteering at the food bank and the testing center my school is setting up, helping neighbors, and donating to charity, but it’s a minor frustration.

There’s a couple other minor issues we could discuss, and also I suppose our next appointment is the anniversary of my father’s death, but I don’t feel inclined to discuss that.

(ETA: I think maybe I didn’t explain myself that well. The pandemic also feels like the center of my life. So I can’t think of anything else to talk about in therapy. Yet at the same time I don’t think talking about it will help. And I don’t feel able to focus on anything else we have ongoing discussions about.)

So I might cancel. How are you using therapy now?

[SlumberKitty]

With Regular T last session we did talk about COVID 19 some but mostly we are using it to curb/address my self destructive tendencies. Same with Pastor T. My internal struggles are still present through the pandemic, unfortunately. It would be nice if they would be put on hold. Both T's asked if I am following the crisis plan and stuff like that. HUGS Kit

[LonesomeTonight]

This is sort of the opposite of me, because the pandemic is so the center of my life right now. But that's in part because I have D at home and have to deal with not only my reactions to this, but also hers, all of her distress about not being able to go to restaurants or playgrounds or most anywhere (she keeps refusing to go for neighborhood walks), without really understanding what's going on (I've tried to explain, but, I mean, this is an event beyond many people's comprehension, let alone an 8-year-old on the autism spectrum). Suddenly, she has no school, can't go anywhere, can't see her grandparents...


And in addition to struggling with helping her get through this, I'm dealing with my own sadness/frustration about not being able to go anywhere, my lack of much space/time to myself at home, and my fears about what's going to happen with the virus (will my parents get sick, maybe get hospitalized, and possibly die? Will I? H? Dr. T? D? H's Mom?) Is it OK to go to the grocery store? Is it safe to get carryout? I need to mail a package--is the post office too much of a risk? I mean, today, I tried going for a walk, and there was someone jogging in the other direction, and I panicked--should I cross the street? Hold my breath for the time it takes to pass them? But then, they would have breathed out where they were running from, too. And I ended up crying from that and from whatever songs coming up on my shuffle that all seemed to somehow fit the situation or were too happy or too sad. Like, I feel I'm barely holding it together from day to day. Today's the first day since Monday that I didn't "meet" with a T of some point--Tuesday was D's T, P, the other three times were Dr. T (added an extra session Wednesday). I will likely end up checking in with him via email over the weekend (I wanted to email today after my walk, but resisted).

I'm glad you're handling it all better--I feel so much has to do with each person's life circumstance right now, like do they live alone? with a partner? Is it a good or awful relationship? Kids at home? Having to work from home with kids? Working at a job where you still have to go on site and are potentially putting yourself at risk? Particularly healthcare worker, but also grocery store employee, etc. And also people's psychological makeup.


But it could make sense to cancel if you have nothing to talk about. I will say, Dr. T said many of his clients have cancelled, either because they're concerned about their financial situation or else don't want to do teletherapy. So he's thanked me for helping keep him in business. But canceling right now seems to be a common thing. When's your next session?

[atisketatasket]

I think maybe I didn’t explain myself that well. The pandemic also feels like the center of my life. So I can’t think of anything else to talk about in therapy. Yet at the same time I don’t think talking about it will help. And I don’t feel able to focus on anything else we have ongoing discussions about.

[Salmon77]

The pandemic is not currently causing major disruption for me, just some small changes, but it brings up a lot of issues I already deal with (related to family, feeling connected to people or not). So I probably talk about the pandemic like 20% of session and the other 80% is the usual stuff.

[Polibeth]

Mostly I use it do debrief from my work (I work in a high-stress job in a hospital - which is very high-stress also right now). So I am directly talking about the pandemic right now. Also, doing teletherapy right now, so cannot really talk about husband and mine's relationship since he is home (our other main topic).

[LostOnTheTrail]

Pandemic means teletherapy, life upended.
Talking about how the pandemic has blown holes in my coping mechanisms.
Feeling like in pandemic times, my stuff is somehow less important.

[Siennasays]

I've put therapy on hold. I work in a hospital , I'm stressed the hell out, I'm scared, I'm angry, I'm depressed...but, mostly, I'm just trying to get through. I remind myself a dozen times a day that this is new for everyone, what I'm feeling is normal and I am NOT alone. My T is still doing in person sessions...no idea why (the whole office is). I cancelled my appointments until this all blows over. Partly, I don't want to take anything into the office...but more importantly, and perhaps selfishly, I don't want to bring anything home. Protecting my husband and kids is #1. It's bad enough I have to leave for work. I don't feel like I have time to focus on therapy right now, be it in person or online. I'm focusing on getting through the day both at work and at home.

[NP_Complete]

A combination of support around the issues the pandemic is causing and working on maintaining our connection. I'm not sure I can continue with what we were normally talking about while all this is going on, especially over Zoom. For now, we're planning on meeting in person still once a week. The other sessions are Zoom.

He also suggested taking a video tour of my house. While I'm fine with that and would like him to see where and how I live and show him where the fire was, I'm also afraid it's going to turn into a tour of all the places bad things I've told him about happened. I may not be able to turn that commentary off in my head even if I don't verbalize any of it.

[ScarletPimpernel]

A combination for me. The pandemic amplifies my original fears/issues. For example: homelessness. I was already terrified of becoming homeless again. Now with the pandemic, H not having a job, and partially financially supporting my sister and my mother in law, our money is going fast. We might come out of this alive, but with nothing to support ourselves with. Also, being physically away from L, and my family depending on me more emotionally, makes me feel more fragile. Anything and everything overwhelms me. Most of our session is based on how I can survive days without sessions.

Eta: L and I came up with a plan to help me through. In order for me to cut down on how often and how much I email, she sends me once a day, an email, that reassures me she's there, not going to leave, will be through this with me, and (now) that she's okay. Waiting for these emails helps me concentrate on her and our relationship instead of my thoughts.

[stopdog]

Although no longer handing those people money to do nothing, I doubt I would have talked about the pandemic as such - I don't find talking about it useful and I can't imagine the woman being supportive or helpful about it. She also was not useful for why I hired her - so I would probably just take a break or quit (which I did once her usefulness as a place to rant about my person's situation ended). I think a problem for me with therapy was I just don't find talking to anyone about most things like a pandemic all that useful. And a lot of the time I find it makes things much much worse for me

[*Beth*]

Since my therapist and I do only phone sessions now the whole thing is awkward. We end up talking about superficial things. I am concerned that the phone sessions are going to ruin my therapy. I'm considering cutting the phone sessions back to one every other week.

I really wish we had a timeline on how long we will need to make the virus the primary subject in our lives.

[ChickenNoodleSoup]

We only talk on the phone for now (not facetime, regular old phone call). My T has never been a fan of doing deep work over the phone, we used to have phone calls before that and they were usually just short, supportive exchanges.
Now, we talk for a bit longer, but still not full session length, something like 15-20 minutes.
He checks in with me on how I'm doing, but as he's said yesterday, while most of his other clients are really struggling, I am doing great right now. So after a few short questions on how I'm doing and how I'm spending my days, we then usually start talking for a bit about the current situation in our country and the surrounding ones. Sometimes we discuss some new studies on the virus that we've both read, he also asks for my opinion on things like masks or how long I think the lock-down will go on for (I was his first client to say I'll isolate at home, while he still thought it'd probably never be necessary here, so now he assumes I'm well informed). We also discuss the precautions we both take, he currently tends to share a lot more than usual about himself (like that he took the car to work, how he usually comes to work, what's it like for him to be at home so much...).

Overall, it's not really therapy per se, we stay in contact, which makes me feel good. We don't go into difficult topics right now, but that's okay, it'd be weird over the phone anyways. I also feel I can help him just a tiny bit by exchanging information. Plus it's probably a nice thing to have a few clients who are not currently freaking out, I imagine that having so many people who aren't doing well and can't see him is hard for him.

[Christmas cookie]

Mainly my past issues with a little of the pandemic. I'm already an introvert. I'm not panicking about covid for myself. My concern is for elderly, immune compromised etc. However I know it's necessary to self isolate, social distance., only go out for essentials. It does feel weird nervous when I go for a short walk. Different world. Quiet roadways etc.

My therapist is using Skype, FaceTime, phone calls, or texts for sessions at the moment.

[Elio]

Mostly I would say as someone to talk to. With my mom dying, my wife testing positive for Covid, my sister sick, me under strict quarantine and having to take care of the house... fighting my own not feeling well (medically/emotionally/mentally) days. Unable to be there for my mom's husband.

To be honest, I'm not sure if I will keep up the number of sessions I have. I had just moved to 4x a week. Video visits don't seem to provide the same type of transference connection. I'm not sure I will get it back either. So much is happening so quickly and so slowly, I don't know.

[feileacan]

So far nothing really has changed for me due to the pandemic. I still go to my T's office most of the times and once a week we speak over skype but this has been that way already a year. As I don't tend to talk in therapy about what is happening in my life and we mostly work on what is happening between us in the session then the session structure hasn't really changed either.

[Omers]

Things we talk about are much lighter and I have a hard time opening up. Meanwhile in life outside of session my inner pre-teen is hell on wheels right now. We will see what happens. I have SO much to process.

[GeminiNZ]

had my first video session a few days ago and we discussed keeping things a bit lighter as the usual tools we use for connecting and grounding are missing now (sitting on the floor together, using touch, a picture on his office wall, etc.). but then i started talking about something deeper, because it applies to our current lockdown situation as well, and it actually went really well and was helpful and i've been able to process stuff since. so i think we'll probably take it as it comes each week while we're apart - keep it light if that's all i feel like doing, go deeper if that feels safe. i usually lead sessions and T follows (for reasons related to why i'm in therapy) so it's mostly my call anyway.

[rainbow8]

It's nice to see some of my friends here again! I can't fall asleep even though I took Trazodone so thought I'd read my favorite forum.

I see 3 ts now but all are via Zoom, phone or telemed. I'm not very computer literate, so could not get the audio with my T on telemed last session so we just talked on the phone. She's the T I talked about most on here. It's 10 years since I've been seeing her.

So, I talk about how I'm coping with coronavirus mostly. Also about my anxiety and my other issues. I miss seeing her in person, and I miss her hugs. I miss holding her hand too. It's interesting that she started allowing texts because of what's going on, and I find that more helpful than a session. Probably because it's more casual, and if I text early in the morning or at night, she answers right away. She helps me calm down because my anxiety is my main problem now. I had it before the coronavirus but now it's a little different.

I'm rambling. I should start my own thread, but at 3 a.m. I'm not thinking too clearly. I'm not used to the layout of the forums. Harder for me to read.

[junkDNA]

Just phone calls and then we have a group discord chat