Question How Do I Know Therapy is Helping? - Page 3

cypher · #21 24-03-2008, 04:23 PM

thanks for all the posts. they've all been helpful!

Auburngirl · #22 30-03-2008, 11:05 AM

I find that I often leave feeling dissociated and 'on the moon.' Sometimes I leave feeling good, then usually that crashed within a day as I realise something new from what came up in therapy.

I think maybe it depends on the person. It seems to be if you have problems with dissociation (like me) pushing too hard would mean you never get anywhere because I'd just constantly be dissociating. So it's a question of finding the right level of difficulty - hard enough that I'm getting somewhere, not so hard that I can't cope and (mentally) leave.

That said, I don't really feel like I know what I'm talking about. I'm incredibly scared. Ridiculously scared. Scared that I'll be dropped by the therapist before I'm better, scared that I won't get better. Scared that I'll have to give up on my dreams because of this.

linasmom · #23 30-03-2008, 12:57 PM

I think sometimes, too, that you will start to realize therapy is working in hindsight. I don't think anyone walks out of therapy one day and clicks their heels in the air and says "I'm cured!". I think it takes reflection. We tend to make small changes in our daily lifestyle that may not be so noticeable at first, until we reflect on it.

Cindy · #24 30-03-2008, 07:30 PM

If I leave therapy with a new question to process and think about?

If I leave therapy with a new corrected cognition to repeat to myself over and over.

If I leave therapy feeling relieved, I took a load off my chest.

If I leave therapy feeling safer than when I went in.

If I leave therapy reprocessing or processing any idea, it was the stimulus I needed at the time.

Auburngirl · #25 04-04-2008, 05:12 PM

The last two times I've left with a sense that I'm getting better, and that does it for me. I'm starting to feel more hopeful about things, and starting to put puzzle pieces in place.

That does give me the sense that it is helping. Thank goodness for the medical system.