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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Tabitha on August 16, 2006, at 23:40:35
I feel a bit guilty posting here this week just because it's my therapist's vacation week. Kind of like going to church only on Easter or something.
But anyway... She said she might be able to do phone sessions, so I called for one, but it turns out she doesn't have adequate cell phone coverage from wherever she is, so I won't get a phone session after all. I called because I'm pretty depressed this week. I'm likely needing a med change as it's been creeping up on me for a while. So not a great week to have no therapy.
I had made a goal to take a walk tonight (therapy night) but I stupidly worked late instead. Guess that probably didn't help, as a walk surely would have improved my mood more than working late.
What else can I do to make this week better?
Posted by All Done on August 17, 2006, at 1:18:29
In reply to Therapist vacation week, posted by Tabitha on August 16, 2006, at 23:40:35
Hi, Tabitha.
Sorry your T is on vacation this week. I know it's hard to have to skip sessions.
What makes time pass the fastest for you?
My personal favorites:
I find if I take a day off work, time flies by. Hmm...go figure. Are you able to do that on short notice?
Read a bunch of good books.
Bake.
Eat what you baked.
Take a nap.
Buy some fresh flowers.
Talk to as many friends as you can.
Babble. (BTW, it's totally okay to come here for Easter - I mean T vacations.)
Well, these are my favorites. What do you like to do? Camp Comfort has the perfect accommodations for everyone. You just have to tell us what you like. :=)
(((Tabitha)))
Take care,
Laurie
Posted by finelinebob on August 17, 2006, at 1:31:34
In reply to Therapist vacation week, posted by Tabitha on August 16, 2006, at 23:40:35
Breathe.
Get rid of any distractions -- turn off the TV, close the office door or take a break if you live in cubeland and leave for 15 minutes. If you can't get rid of them, get so many of them they fade into white noise (I work near Union Square in NYC -- a perfect place for generating white noise).
I'm no yogi or anything like that, so I'm not gonna say chant something or empty your mind. That sort of thing takes years to learn anyway if you want to do it well, so just breathe and let your breathing fill your thoughts.
How fast are you breathing? How slow can you go?
Where does the air come from? Where does it leave? All the meditation teachers and physical trainers and other breathing experts I've heard say in through the nose, out through the mouth. Give it a shot, or turn it on its head. So long as you keep breathing.
How do you start? Do you breathe up from your collar bones? I always thought that was the way to breathe deeply since you get to puff out your chest if you do that and, being a man myself, that looks rather manly man-ish ... until a tai chi teacher reminded me that we use our diaphragm more than anything to breathe. So try breathing down into your stomach. Then slow it down. Then add breathing up from the collar bones to catch the top of your lungs, too. And slow down some more. But keep breathing.
Now, just as you've got yourself breathing as fully and as slowly as you can, get it all out of you. Drop your collar bones. Push your diaphragm back up into your chest. Slowly. Then get ready to breathe again, deeply and slowly.
When you've got that handled, do this: when your lungs are full of air, pause a moment. No, don't stop breathing, don't hold your breath, don't tighten back up trying to see how long you can pause. Just pause and think for a second or just a millisecond what a wonderful, marvelous thing it is to be able to just breathe without having to worry about anything else.
If you get that far, you'd better check your watch or whatever to see if you've "overdone" it. If so, then whoever "needed" you will just have to deal. If you have more tme, take a look around you for some more marvelous, ordinary things. Things you wouldn't notice unless you looked for them.
Or you can go back to breathing again.
Posted by fallsfall on August 17, 2006, at 7:49:08
In reply to Therapist vacation week, posted by Tabitha on August 16, 2006, at 23:40:35
I'm sorry the phone session didn't work out.
Can you get an appointment with your pdoc while she is on vacation? Or get your hair done, or a manicure, or a massage, or go see your lawyer or your banker or someone else who has the job of taking care of you? Invite a friend over for a sleepover.
Sometimes I try to avoid depression during vacations as a way to give a gift to my therapist - makes it so that I'm not punishing him when he comes back? But sometimes I just can't do that.
Rent all those movies that you've been wanting to see.
Come to Camp Comfort.
Babble a lot
Posted by sunnydays on August 17, 2006, at 8:49:06
In reply to Therapist vacation week, posted by Tabitha on August 16, 2006, at 23:40:35
Are you having some sort of a Martian mind-meld with me? :) My T is gone for the week too, and I am feeling so much more depressed. We talked before he left that I might need a med change, but he was going to call my pdoc and have her contact me, and I think he forgot. And I get really scared making phone calls, so I really don't want to call her. Anyway, sorry I don't have any suggestions, but maybe it helps to know someone else knows how you're feeling.
sunnydays
Posted by Tabitha on August 18, 2006, at 0:50:33
In reply to Re: Therapist vacation week » Tabitha, posted by sunnydays on August 17, 2006, at 8:49:06
Thanks everyone. I felt a lot less isolated when I read all these messages. It cheered me up quite a bit. Looks like I've just about survived the week, and I learned I'm getting some unexpected company this weekend. My mood is quite a bit better than it was.
This is the end of the thread.
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