Same here I could carry shopping in the bags over my eyes:-(

Under my eyes I mean lol

Yes! I am constantly exhausted after session even if the are good, connected, uplifting sessios I'm just... beat. I have to go back to work after my appointments and it's really hard sometimes I usually end up with an afternoon nap.

Sorry to hear that this is common but I'm absolutely wiped out right now and even chocolate doesn't seem to pick me up as usual!

Yes, therapy wipes me out. The more intense the session, the less I can manage to do afterward. Recently it has been much better, but there was a period of time during which after every session, I just had to sleep. If it was a night-time session (preferred), I would just go to bed, since I would get home around my bedtime. If it was a daytime session, I would have to take a nap for an hour or two...a couple of times, even longer. It was miserable on days that my sessions were too early for H to be home after, but too late for he to have a chance to nap during Boo's nap. It felt like it took me a day or more to recover after.

I'm truly exhausted 90% of the time. Crying makes you feel really tired. My T says that the feeling of being exhausted means you are working hard in therapy and that therapy is hard work. He thinks it's very normal to feel this way. I do think that low level depression may also play a part in the tiredness. I very seldom feel any energy, especially since the trauma with my oldT. I was just thinking yesterday about two years ago in the Spring. How light and happy I felt. How secure. It was a really good time and I had a lot of energy. Then I was abandoned and it's hard to even hope I'll get that energy back...ever. I realize that I'm past the major depressive episode and heavy trauma that had me paralyzed but now I'm struggling with dysthymia.

Summer... if you are tired I'd say you did some good deep work in therapy.

TN

Yes!

I was actually just thinking about how tired I am right now after just getting home from T and how I had so much energy right beforehand...it is exhausting!

I will never forget the first time I sat down with my T and told her how I felt disheartened that I was SO floored with complete exhaustion that week.

She did, as she usually does in such situations - Smiled really warmly and knowingly...and explained that being smacked in the face with full on exhaustion means you're working your butt off...

Think of it like an iceburg...What you do while you are awake is only a teeny amount of what happens beneath the surface.

So...be damned proud of yourself and your exhaustion...and drink some coffee?

I just recently started to feel exhausted with my therapy jus because I'm really letting T have all my emotional baggage. One particular session consisted of me crying literally the entire time and afterwards I knocked out for at least 2 hours and still had zero energy after that. Now its getting better and my energy level is goin up and I don't feel as exhausted after my sessions aymore. I guess its part of the process though, but I just keep pushing through and tell myself that I'm not always gonna feel awful and emotionally exhausted.

Timing is important, I think Yaku mentioned that later in the day is beneficial. If I was anticipating a day or even week where I needed all the energy reserves I had to accomplish what I needed to IRL, I would try to keep things lighter with T and just ask for support. (He did cheer me on a lot)

Do you all feel "lighter" and more energetic after the exhaustion?

I used to always feel hyper on session days especially in anticipation of seeing him, so this utter exhaustion is something I haven't really experienced.

Thanks for all the support in helping me realize this is normal and good, as it shows progress.

I feel as if this progress is leading me to the heart of my therapy with my P in facing what needs he can and will meet but, perhaps more importantly and harder to accept, what needs he will never meet.

It's that "facing the losses from childhood thing" that he has said I've needed to work through but I've somehow managed to tip toe around it for quite a while!

I am exhausted pretty much all the time and on the days when I cry - the exhaustion is incredible. I don't cry often and mostly never in therapy as I don't feel safe enough - but I have had a bad few days and been very emotional and I am so tired. it might affect me a lot as it takes a lot of energy to keep all that emotional and the tears in and 'nicely contained'

I wish I could cry. All I wanted to do was cry when old P ended therapy but I had to suppress those tears in order to work, take care of my family....and maybe that's the drain on my energy now as I hit these feelings but just feel as if I'm always on the verge of tears, but never really cry.

yeah i get tired sometimes. one time we were talking about my vulnerabilities and it was a hard session because i didnt want to get into that part and on the train home, my body just suddenly was physically exhausted and i just wanted to sleep forever.

im usually dissociative these days because ever since T and i discussed therapy ending, its put a stop in my head. i reacted terribly to it. i reacted with panic so now i think im just getting getting over that and its very hard. i still think im boxing in these feelings but i dont knwo. i just dont feel relaxed anymore at all.

tbh since therapy started ive been like this. my separation issues are so dam huge.

Absolutely totally and utterly shatters me ...every time; I never seem to get past that. Maybe when I do I know it will be time to stop

Therapy does exhaust me, both emotionally and physically. Today it felt like being hit by a truck and running a marathon all wrapped up together. It was a good session, and very healing, but shiesh, I left shaking and felt like I could sleep for days. Sometimes I wonder if the exhaustion is worth it. It is really tough. I have to pace it out or I'd quit all together - except right now, there are some things I have to work through and do with T that I have a very limited time to do, and it's really taking everything out of me to get through it.

hugs and prayers and thoughts of rest and restoration to all who are exhausted by therapy.

~ jane

quote:

Therapy does exhaust me, both emotionally and physically. Today it felt like being hit by a truck and running a marathon all wrapped up together.

It is same with me, BUT it also gives me some kind of peace and some kind of extra energy, I can't fully explain, Like I am really tired but I want to go to the gym or for a walk, so strange .. Does anyone feel like this ?

Summer,
My first thought when I read your post title was that the questions should be "Does therapy ever NOT exhaust you?"

Between getting keyed up before hand and then how intense a session can get, I am usually pretty wrung out by the end of a session. I am VERY grateful that I have a job that allows me to telecommute and work at home, so after really intense sessions (I usually see my T early in the day) I just head home.

My first T was really helpful with this, she used to tell me that a really intense session was like you had just ran a marathon. She was really big on the need for self-care, knowing what a drain it could be to do this work.

The truth is that emotions are how we move energy through our nervous systems. When you process and express long-buried, unprocessed feelings, you are moving an enormous amount of energy and it's a lot of really hard work. I sometimes think of it as the way you get tired on a long car trip. Yes, you're sitting, but your body is forced to make constant physiological adjustments to handle the motion, that when you arrive, you can be really wiped. Therapy is like that. Just because it's not physically visible, doesn't mean you not exerting a tremendous amount of effort. I have had sessions (had one on Wednesday actually) where I can literally feel stunned by the end.

Near the end of the session, I said to my T "I'm so tired" and he pointed out something I had never thought of that could be a factor also. He talked about tiredness being a dissociative reaction. Which made sense because I had spent a large chunk of the session fighting through dissociation because of the level of material I hit.

Which is all my really long-winded way of saying, you're probably working very hard and using a lot of energy. And yes, I've taken days off from work at times. My favorite excuse if I didn't want to be up front about it, was a 24-hour stomach bug. Everyone knows they completely lay you out for 24 hours, but you do recover quickly from them. My other favorite excuse was a really bad sinus headache. I have a lot of problems with my sinuses due to allergies, so it always sounded plausible.

AG

yes...with my old "guru T" I used to get completely exhausted, Summer. Sometimes, for days on end, I was completely "out of it." with my new "Cowboy T" I don't get tired...although I have a vague memory of getting tired during a session to the point of wanting to fall asleep, very suddenly, which seems weird...

With guru T, I used to, like Anna- (at the beginning)

quote:

BUT it also gives me some kind of peace and some kind of extra energy, I can't fully explain, Like I am really tired but I want to go to the gym or for a walk, so strange .. Does anyone feel like this ?

but now, with Cowboy, I just don't feel much outside of sessions,- during yes, outside, no, I just carry on. hm.

Seems like being tired after therapy is a sign you are doing hard work.

good luck to all-

OK, I have to be honest….

Therapy doesn’t exhaust me.

Well, it did, more so, when I was only sleeping about 2 hours a night in January and February (medication induced insomnia). But really not much. Even on 2 hours of sleep I was very functional (manic, meds, who knows). I remember on Jan 23rd when T told me she cared about me and the stuff she is providing for me was never provided by my mother (and I broke down sobbing, twice), she said, “This is exhausting, isn’t it.” Even then, I didn’t think it was. I just through it felt 'cleansing.' But, I didn’t face the thoughts in my head in response to what she said to me, I left 10 minutes early, to go home to work on a 9 hour photo project for my daughter’s kindergarten class (100 day of school - I printed out 100 photos of her). I was actually quite moved and motivated. I had left that session 'content'.

I don’t cry in sessions with her anymore; if tears start, I stop them. Maybe this is one of my problems, still filtering, still stuffing, still not doing 'the work.'

I have left sad, though, even tears in the car before leaving.

I’m wondering if all my avoidance of something or the totally confused “what am I doing in therapy” aspect has me not working hard in therapy at all, therefore I’m not exhausted.

Even EMDR didn’t exhausst me (when T said that it is very common for people to go home and nap, and never plan something for immediately after it). I felt 'cleansed' and refreshed and energized.

After my 45 minute sessions, now, I just carry on....go pick up my son, go grocery shopping, etc., kind of like a robot, as if therapy didn't just happen.

I'm not sure what to think about all of this....

I've found myself no longer exhausted by therapy ever since switching T's. It might be partly that there's less intense work left to do, and partly that it's felt more gradual and less scary.

*shrug* dunno...

TAS here. I don't know how to start a post so I thought I would add to this one. I do feel extremely exhausted right now due to therapy. I have seen this therapist for at least 30 times and the level of DREAD I feel every time I go does not change. I am trying to figure out if this is normal (or no?)

I must say he is kind, he listens and does not do anything that would cause ambivalence. I have been thinking of not continuing due to this, I can not seem to overcome it.

I would appreciate any thoughts. Also, if any of you know how to start a new post, please do not hesitate to inform me of the process. Thank you.