Posted by cmcdougall on January 9, 2002, at 12:06:12
In reply to taking a break from your therapist?, posted by Lini on January 9, 2002, at 9:55:07
How long have you been in therapy? Personally, I am not a big advocate of long-term talk therapy.
I have chronic major depression and am on a good med cocktail now, but talk-therapy is helpful when my old meds poop out and I'm going through trials of new meds. It is also good for getting me back on track when life circumstances get me all de-railed.
I have done talk therapy several times in my life... Usually I go for 4 or 6 sessions and thats been it. The last time I went was in Oct. for 10 days straight of intensive cognitive therapy (outpatient) in the local psych ward, followed by 2 or 3 weekly sessions w/ my pdoc who also does talk-therapy. I always get a lot of good out of these sessions, but when they become redundant I quit.
All the talking in the world will not change you - all it can do is give you insight into WHY you behave the way you do, and then give you the tools to use to change YOURSELF into the kind of person you want to be.
So to answer your questions, Yes I take breaks from therapy. I might take a 5 year break. I do just fine until I need something different (usually a change of meds), then I go back to therapy. I don't always go back to the same therapist either. Sometimes I try something completely different. I've learned good things from all of them.
About once every 6 months or so I even go to Alanon meetings. I'm not involved w/ an alcoholic, but the meetings are like a "booster shot". They remind me that I can't control everything in my life, but I CAN learn to try and control myself (not so easy at times, is it) and its reassuring to see that I'm not alone w/ my problems.
If you aren't sure what you want from the therapy, then I think its time to take a break and figure that out or try something different. Why spend time doing something that has no objective or clear-cut goal?
Good luck,
Carly>
>
> I am currently on break from my therapist. we talked about it last night, I am not entirely sure of my reasons, but I just felt that I needed to reevaluate why I was in therapy. My therapist said that she understood, which as helpful. Here's my question. . . Has anyone else taken a break from therapy and then come back? How has it gone? What was it about? For me, I think that I am feeling a little bit better and now in a position to evaluate why I am in therapy and what I want to get out of it. There are some specific things I would like to get from therapy and I just feel like a need a break to sort out what they are and articulate them. Does this make sense to anyone? One of the biggest issues I have is paying for therapy. Not because I can't afford it, but I just have this issue with paying, like it cheapens the whole thing or something. Immature? probably, but I get really offended when my therapist wants to talk payments. I have considered just giving her my checkbook and having her write herself checks. I also need my therapist to be more direct and not let me get away with copping out of things. I need to think this through more, but I feel like she doesn't challenge me (or I don't challenge myself?). Lastly, I have this overwhelming need to be "the best patient". Silly, but I actually spend time wondering if my therapist looks forward to our sessions or hates them. Am I just the ultimate freak or has anyone else felt like this?
poster:cmcdougall
thread:16539
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020102/msgs/16545.html