Psycho-Babble Psychology Thread 361908

Shown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.

 

Can anyone recommend a good book about...

Posted by lookdownfish on June 30, 2004, at 7:40:27

termination in psychotherapy. Many thanks.

 

Re: Can anyone recommend a good book about...

Posted by rockymtnhi on June 30, 2004, at 9:33:26

In reply to Can anyone recommend a good book about..., posted by lookdownfish on June 30, 2004, at 7:40:27

I can think of two books that I have found on this board: In Session and When to say Good-bye to your Therapist. When to say Good-bye is out of print but you can pick up a used copy from Amazaon.

Neither book had any hard and fast rules for when to end therapy or how to get through it. The advice from people on this board has been very helpful.

Are you frustrated with therapy or do you feel like you are at a good place to leave? When I read the book, I felt like I was a bad patient so I should just end it. I am in not in a good place so I am glad that I did not act on those thoughts.

Take care.

 

Re: Can anyone recommend a good book about... » rockymtnhi

Posted by lookdownfish on June 30, 2004, at 9:56:49

In reply to Re: Can anyone recommend a good book about..., posted by rockymtnhi on June 30, 2004, at 9:33:26

thanks for the recommendations.

>Are you frustrated with therapy or do you feel like you are at a good place to leave?

It's a little bit of both I guess. Therapy is still helping me when times are more difficult. But I have been feeling a lot stronger and feel more able to cope alone. I don't know if this is a good enough reason to leave, so I need to think some more about it. I know it would be really painful to leave ... I wonder if there is such a thing as a healthy termination. I just feel that there is no point to any of this if I don't feel able to leave some day. I don't know whether I am a few weeks, months or years away from being able to leave, but I just know that I have to be able to contemplate it.

I have talked to my T about it and she has made me feel like it would be a failure to finish now, not her words, but that's how it is perceived by me. She implied we have only scratched the surface. She makes me feel like I would be running away rather than leaving for good reasons. She didn't actually use those phrases, but her attitude seems like she thinks I should stay.

 

Ending Therapy » lookdownfish

Posted by daisym on June 30, 2004, at 14:37:38

In reply to Re: Can anyone recommend a good book about... » rockymtnhi, posted by lookdownfish on June 30, 2004, at 9:56:49

LDF,

When ever I start thinking about ending or cutting back on therapy, it is a pretty big signal that we are close to something painful. Or, I've gone into the eye of the storm and want to just sit in this peace (though ominous on all sides) for a while.

If you revisit the goals you have for therapy, and the reasons why you started, you might be able to lay out for yourself when you will know you are done. My therapist's answer is always, "you'll know." I hate that! But maybe he is right. We do have to look at all the factors about choosing to continue.

Sometimes we only want to scratch the surface. There isn't anything wrong with that if you feel OK, not fragile and like you are moving in the right direction. I've heard cutting back contact as a recommended strategy for "testing" to see if you are ready.

Oh yeah, my therapist also likes to remind me that it is OK to "just" need support now and then You don't ALWAYS have to be working on an issue to get something out of therapy. This is a particularly hard concept for me. My director's brain goes into to overdrive about making every minute count and solving problems as quickly as possible.

Keep talking to her about this. It sounds really important.

 

Re: Ending Therapy » daisym

Posted by lookdownfish on June 30, 2004, at 16:14:10

In reply to Ending Therapy » lookdownfish, posted by daisym on June 30, 2004, at 14:37:38

It's interesting what you said about the eye of the storm. My T says I get this feeling that therapy isn't useful any more, just when it is getting close to something really useful.
thanks for your thoughts.

 

Re: double double quotes » rockymtnhi

Posted by Dr. Bob on June 30, 2004, at 21:33:12

In reply to Re: Can anyone recommend a good book about..., posted by rockymtnhi on June 30, 2004, at 9:33:26

> I can think of two books that I have found on this board: In Session and When to say Good-bye to your Therapist.

I'd just like to plug the double double quotes feature at this site:

http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faq.html#amazon

The first time anyone refers to a book without using this option, I post this to try to make sure he or she at least knows about it. It's just an option, though, and doesn't *have* to be used. If people *choose* not to use it, I'd be interested why not, but I'd like that redirected to Psycho-Babble Administration:

http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020918/msgs/7717.html

Thanks!

Bob

 

Re: Can anyone recommend /good thought! (nm) » lookdownfish

Posted by terrics on July 1, 2004, at 8:40:25

In reply to Can anyone recommend a good book about..., posted by lookdownfish on June 30, 2004, at 7:40:27


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