Posted by seldomseen on February 18, 2008, at 16:16:24
In reply to Therapy - Bang for the Buck?, posted by Hermitian on February 17, 2008, at 14:42:08
I've always thought of therapy in terms of the proverb:
"when the student is ready, the teacher will appear".While I do certainly think there are some lazy therapists out there who see us as cash cows, I think most of the speed at which therapy proceeds is up to the student so to speak.
My therapy has been punctuated by a series of what I call "holy crap you are so RIGHT!" moments. I just had to be ready to hear them and accept them. Developing a trusting relationship - dare I say - attachment to my therapist helped a lot. I can say that unequivocally.
I do think there is some merit in what you say about re-hashing the past ad nauseum. In my opinion, there is a fine line between wallowing and discussing.
But even that re-hashing seems to come in phases: the recognition, the anger, the mourning, the acceptance and finally, the desire for change. Each phase I think has its own time course for different people.Mine took about four years and was complicated by all kinds of therapy crap, but even that crap helped me in the real world. Then I got to work. The "teacher" appeared so to speak.
Looking back on it all, I'm not sure I could have gotten here any faster. The student just wasn't ready.
I still relapse and collapse back in on myself. It's such an old pattern, so so hard to break. But I'm working on it. We are working on it together I guess.
Seldom.
poster:seldomseen
thread:813285
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20080210/msgs/813468.html