What are you working on in therapy

And do you ever see yourselves being “done”? Im just curious. What has your journey been like?

I have CPTSD with disassociation, anxiety and depression. All previous T’s (9+) told me that the best I could do was manage my more intense PTSD symptoms. I am with a new T now and it is a completely different experience. We are working on forming healthy relationships, letting go of toxic ones, letting go of old patterns from the trauma that no longer serve me, trauma processing, building my self esteem and bringing balance into my life. T believes I am totally capable of healing/becoming whole again... and I am starting to believe him too. In today’s session he spontaneously said “we need to get you healed so that you can...” and it really sunk in. I don’t know if it sunk in because I was more ready to hear it or if it was because he just came from an emergency dental appointment and I knew he had NO filters. Lol. It was not one of his more professional days but still a good session.
We have been working together since December of 2018, so a little over a year. We have great rapport and a great relationship. Our idea about therapy, life, spirituality fit well together. He is someone I could see being friends with had we met under different conditions. The journey with him has been so much gentler than anyone else but we have also accomplished more. We see his role as coach/motivator and supply coordinator as he has an amazing toolbox of therapy ideas. My job is to do the work. While he has worked with a lot of people with my same Dx he has only worked with one of me and we aren’t done yet. So we are honest that neither of us know where this journey will take us or how long it will take. He has committed to be at my side though and make available to me all his tools and wisdom. I trust him so much that I am having to redefine my understanding of trust. We don’t know how long it will take but yes, I will find healing!

Abuse recovery
Moving into a new life
Finding ways to stay rooted in compassion, grace, peace, love--really, remaining true to myself--without letting myself get run over by the train.


I do see myself being done, though I don't know when or what that will look like. I've got some more work to do, and I would like to continue with the same therapist while I do it, as she's walked this path with me, but I see myself currently actively resolving a lot of the things that brought me to therapy initially.

Templates (aka mental tapes)
Being more comfortable
Facts vs Feelings
Dialectics (and instead of but)
Coping with stressors

We always agree that the goal in therapy is to come as you are, and to be open and honest.

I don't know if I'll ever be "done" or "healed". I think my overall goal is to be content with myself and my life, to learn how to socialize and gain more social support, and having enough coping skills to not have breakdowns and ride out the waves of depression and anxiety.

There have been different phases in my therapy journey. Some have been more successful than others. Some are longer than others. I had a counselor at a crisis house who made a huge impact on me even though I only met with her a few times.

I’m working on managing my anxiety. Managing my relationships and standing up for myself and my opinions. Knowing what I want and being able to express it. I’m also trying to expose myself to situations that cause anxiety. and learning how to be a good mum despite my problems.

I think I will be done some day. But it’s possible that I will need more support again later on.

I finished therapy a bit over 8 years ago. I do consider myself "done" with therapy. I started therapy in college (about 2 years there). Did another 2-3 years in my early 30s. Then I did the decade of my 40s. It was in that last round of therapy that I found a place where I felt I no longer need that kind of support. In therapy, I found some peace with my past. I acquired the self-management skills needed to deal with the fairly normal bouts of depression and anxiety that most people go through so that those bouts no longer spiral into a real crisis like they did for years and years.

I realized in the last year or so of therapy that I had reached a place where I was figuring things out for myself. I had found a real world support system so I didn't need my therapist for that anymore, and I realized I was ready to go it on my own.

I have DID. Working all on trauma stuff .

SH. Suicidal feelings. Depression. Anxiety. Panic attacks. Hallucinations. Emotions. Social skills. Etc.

Hi there! I first went to therapy because I had symptoms of anxiety and depression. I remember sitting in my first session thinking "omg" and telling the therapist my entire life story and then her confirming my suspicions. We worked a ton on my lack of relationship boundaries with my mom, as well as my constant need to know where my significant other was. We unpacked my trust issues and this surprisingly really helped with my new relationship. I have learned new coping skills to help soothe my anxiety and also how to communicate with my family/significant other about my emotions.

I pretty much decided on my own that I was done due to financial reasons. I was seeing my therapist once a week and this became pricy for me. Also, my parents were very against the idea of me going to therapy... I live on my own and make my own decisions but my parents opinion is still valuable to me. Though I still went to my sessions, my family made me feel sort of guilty about going. But, I also did feel like I honestly made lots of progress with my anxiety and depression, and this gave me the courage to say "I'm done". You'll know when you're done. You'll feel confident in the choice as well! Keep going, fight your battle, and come out on top.

PTSD and trauma stuff. i'm eight years in. sometimes i think i'm going too slow and tell T he must be sick of me by now, but he (gently) reminds me that the abuse lasted for twenty years and was going on all the time (both parents, various kinds of abuse) so chipping away at all that trauma was always likely to be a slow process.

i do see progress. i can call it abuse. i no longer insist it must have somehow been my fault. i don't feel as disloyal talking about it with T as i used to. i accept that my T believes me. that my parents lied to me. there are more and more situations i can be in now that i couldn't be in before therapy. i use a smaller dosage of anxiety medication and only rarely need to take it now.

it is still hard work. really hard. sometimes T or i trigger me in unexpected ways. sometimes in very predictable ways that we just didn't pick up on in time. sometimes i get him and my parents all mixed up and things get very painful and messy. we've had ruptures and i've talked about quitting several times, but somehow we always carry on.

i trust T more than i've trusted anyone in my life. i often feel safe with him. for me, with the upbringing i had, that's huge. and it's why i stay.

We work on a couple of different things:

- learning to cope with my emotions by myself
- processing trauma (and not responding to triggers as much)
- learning how I affect others
- trusting people

I started therapy a bit more than 3 years ago. Initially it was a lot of my T trying to figure out what was going on plus helping with intense feelings. After a while a lot of trauma stuff came up so we talked about that. It can change, sometimes I have lots of flashbacks and need to talk about past things, sometimes we practice coping with 'everyday life' things.

Since I have pretty bad fear of abandonment, I can't see myself just quitting therapy, but if all goes well, I think my T will have taught me enough by the time he retires for me to not search for a new one.

Im working on ptsd, trauma. I have been in therapy for 18 years. I had some very bad therapist til last spring. So now i feel like im getting some where. I feel like i have made progress with this therapist. She tells me it's going to be a slow process. I don't know if there will ever be a end to therapy, i'm okay with going to therapy as long as i see progress and my therapist see's it too.

I initially started therapy due to PPD, then continued for general depression, anxiety and an ED. Ive been going for almost 3 years, but I now go about once month. My depression and anxiety is fairly well controlled on meds and I'm likely going to try weaning them in the spring. At that time I will probably finish with therapy. My therapist has been amazing, but I pretty much have things from here I think.

What am I working on? The usual: effects of childhood abuse and neglect, death, loss, anger, depression, work issues, transference, fear and phobias (not the same thing, in my case), physical illness, relationships, and aging (I have been with my T for over 30 years.).

I wish I could go without a therapist. I've never really tried it since I became ill about 10 years ago. I just think that every time I try to leave therapy I end up coming back anyway. It's kind of useless. It's almost as if therapy has a hold over me. I know it shouldn't be that way, but it is for me.


I also recognize that therapy has taught me how to regulate my emotions a lot better (I think as I say this, "has it really?")

I just remember that I never used to have this back-and-forth b.s. that I do these days a lot. I wish I could just have some space.

Just my anxiety related to work and my transition plans. I don’t have any past trauma that needs to be worked on. We just focus on what went on since l last saw her the previous week. Sometimes we talk about my physical health. Nutrition and proper eating habits and stuff like that.

I am in the process of transitioning so I am for sure not done yet and I am not sure if I ever will be. My medicine can affect my moods quite a bit so therapy is very important.