Processed cheese?

Well I keep thinking I should know the answer to this but am struggling with it at the mo.

How do you process a therapy session???

Last Thursday, from what I can remember, my therapy session consisted of yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes....as in, would you like a piece of cake? Yes. No, you can't have it! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

Right at the end of the session T says, you need to process this session. I pulled a face and tutted extremely loudly!

So, I have gone over and over the session on my mind, tried sleeping on it, relaxation, blah, blah blah...and still can't work out how I'm supposed to 'process.' Any ideas friends?

hmmmmm well, i would have done all of what you did... think on it, relive the session in my mind, i might have added jouraling about it and typing the details in here because then (for me) i get to see it away from myself and see other ppls take on it. then it gives me another layer to work off of. good luck! kiya

Thanks for your reply Kiya.

I just konked out and fell asleep for 2 hours! Whatever it is I'm trying to work out is completely whacking me out.

Some sessions, I do not process at all. This is because I can't remember them. For whatever reason, I am very good at completely blocking out sessions to the point where I cannot remember a thing that was said.

However, when I process sessions, I do it either in my journal or in an email to T. I meticulously write about it in a way that leads me to numerous insights and awarenesses.

Sometimes, I would rather process cheese.

I do like your smilie.

I write a load of notes about the session, but they are all jumbled up and not in the right order. And when I reread it for the one hundredth time I just think, gosh! These are the musings of someone who is seriously delusional!

I guess I'm gonna have to talk to T, yet again, about stuff I find really difficult, and say umm... did we really talk about what I think we talked about or not!

Sometimes I process my sessions here by writing about moments that stand out. Sometimes I process by chatting with a friend. Sometimes I process by talking about things with my H or my SIL and sometimes I read. Often I write in my journal, and I also write poetry.

OMG I have so many ways to process. I'm happy for the reminder!!

Peace

It could be for now, for this session, just capturing the moments of the session that stand out is all the processing you can do. That's okay.

I write in a journal too and often my journalling can be the way you describe. And sometimes, like this week, I keep writing over and over again about the same couple of things from the session.

Sometimes I don't necessarily gain insight but since I have trouble being in the 'here and now' in session, journalling gives me a chance to dispute or defend or expand on what went on in session. Then I take that to the next session and we talk about it again.

Or, you might want to spend next session talking about processing sessions and see what the 2 of you come up with.

I guess I process in a couple of ways.

I have a friend that I usually talk to after each session - I talk through what happened, and she asks questions, and often that will help me clarify what I'm feeling, what I think, etc.

The other way I do it is on a more subconscious level. Usually in the hours (or sometimes days) after a session, things will sort of come to me - feelings, or worries, or memories, or questions, or whatever. Then I'll sometimes write a journal entry, or an e-mail to T, to help myself sort out what's come up.

I hope that SOMEDAY I can process things a bit while I'm still actually sitting there in his presence.

I had unconsciously taught myself to "flag" spots. And I literally saw red flags like golf hole marker flags? LOL But my T (and I think it's what T's are trained to do) went after "feelings". If I expressed any sort of feeling, she'd "follow" it (like mining copper (notice I didn't say gold)). So if she were to say, "Lovely weather isn't it?" and I were to start crying, she'd key in on that, look for why the weather or mention of the weather or mention of the word "lovely" or my being asked a question or ???? made me cry. Eventually I probably learned to do the same thing with myself so when I processed a session it would be to trip over odd spots like "why the heck did I start crying over the weather?" and let my imagination go until I remembered June of 1960 and camp and we were studying weather and I "flunked" because I didn't do any of the work (it was just like school!!! and boring; I don't care about cloud formations!!!!) and. . .

That sort of thing. So, I would, if your initial feeling is "yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes...." where you've met that feeling before and who was eliciting it from you? What were you feeling as this was going on? Frustration? Anger? Fear? I always had trouble when my T was asking me questions because my stepmother use to grill me so I naturally assumed my T had an ulterior motive too and was trying to pry me off my rock like I was a winkle or something?

If these helpful posts do not get you closer to 'how to' process your own work in therapy sessions, there is no better person to ask for clarification than your T.

No way is there anything to fear about getting your instructions if you are stuck.

peace,
night

Perna made the flagging suggestion to me a while back and I started doing it in my own way. For me I started flagging issues that when they were raised my response was evasive, or thoughts that surfaced during the session but that I screened or immediately dismissed. I would think about these issues between sessions and then forced myself to mention that I was thinking about them in my next session.

pegasus, I process by writing in my journal or just by being open to thoughts and feelings that come up after the session in relation to what happened. Sometimes new stuff can come up even days later. I think I am a slow processor. It is good there is a week between sessions to allow for processing. Sometimes after therapy I am left with vague feelings--some anxiety, fear, uneasiness, joy, anger--could be many things. I like to then think back on the session and follow these feelings to what caused them. What in the session provoked this response in me, and why?

I think everyone has their own way of processing, pegasus. Often, it just kind of happens. How do you usually process a session? Part of processing can be revisiting the topic or conversation in your next session.

Thank you all for the replies.

I have been falling asleep all over the place! And gradually remembering more and more from the session, but not just that session but bits and pieces from other sessions. Kind of like a (jigsaw) puzzle coming together.

T did say that what I'm trying to process is something that anyone would find difficult, even for people who haven't been through all that I have been through. So it's super difficult. But then, the fact that I know this is difficult is an insight in it's self.

The yes, no, yes, no, yes, no.... arguement that we had did actually end up with T saying yes, right at the end of the session. So my feelings through out the session was one of failure and confusion and ended up with feelings of shock and disbelief.

So, I guess I am processing afterall!

Sleep might be a necessary part of the processsing for you too. There are studies coming out lately about how people learn new skills better after they have slept after learning the new skill. When you're working on harder stuff you're likely to need to sleep more.

I also like writing down key points or insights from each session. I have a notebook for therapy and I write a summary after every session (sometimes I'm sitting in my car after session for up to an hour trying to get a handle on it). I also write down things I need to talk about next time, what I need to work on or think about in between, etc. And I keep that notebook with me so that if something comes up any time I can capture it, because I would forget if I didn't write it.

Thanks ((((((((( Rapunzel )))))))))) for your reply.

I can't think of anything to add to this post really. Therapy was real exciting last week, but I'm very low today. I'm functioning, been to work and all that, just feeling like a piece of crap.

((((((((((((( pegasus ))))))))))))))

Thanks for the hug ((((((((((( Fuzzybear )))))))))))

I just don't know what's true and what's imagined now.

(((Pegasus)))

Thanks mouse I appreciate you thinking of me.