Posted by ksvt on January 6, 2001, at 9:58:05
One of my therapist's recent suggestions to help me out of a real down period now is to invite my 2 children (almost 13 and 15) to come in and meet with her (and me). I think she believes they should be better informed about what happens with me and she also thinks i need to hear from them that I'm not as much of a negative influence on them when i am depressed as I think I do. My younger child knows nothing about my depression, and I've had only a brief conversation with my 15 year old quite awhile ago. I wouldn't trust him even to remember that we talked about this. My kids are at an age where they share information with my husband and me very judiciously (eg very infrequently and not necessarily voluntarily). I have a tough time seeing myself putting them through what would be very awkward for all of us. I think my therapist is concerned about the degree of my isolation, but it also seems to me that by bringing all of this out in the open, the effect I have on them might be more manifest, and I might feel worse if I know they are trying to alter how they might otherwise behave, to accommodate my depression. Has anyone out there had this sort of experience, or have thoughts about this. My suffering is very silent - on the surface I function pretty well and there a very few people who even know I suffer from depression. thanks ksvt
poster:ksvt
thread:3738
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010105/msgs/3738.html