Skip to main content

The PsychCafe
Share, connect, and learn.
Hello.

This is my first time here .Sorry my spelling errors , english is not my first language.

I have been seeing T for about 3 years (with some pause ) and he has been great ,I was referred to him in a health clinic ,so I could get help for my child and be better mom ,i have no family support nad little freinds ..in the same tima he helped me and so now he is helping me and he helped me from depression, that is sitting home doing nothing, he asked me like you can go and do what you like what is it you like to do , and I went to college , and he was there helping me, I meet him sometimes 1 week or every 2 weeks and its free for me , as this is help for my child.
I got work and I could call to the clinic or send e-mail that I needed to talk to him and he would phone back.
This has chanced my life and I got 50 % work through my college.
Then in january 2011I got a shock in my work and it really knocked me down and I sank deep and deeper, until last October I was thinking about suicide and he helped me and in December my lowest of low I really tested our alliance and sendid him alot af e-mail , he was patient , and then I got little better in Jan and I did talk about this difficult time and he admitted that he was sometimes tired of all my mails and phone calls, but hen knew I was feeling bad, but in the end of jan I started again to feel so really bad and suicidal and tried to send him e-mail and told him how bad I felt and he did not reply and then I left the next day phonemesseage in the clinic to ask him to call me, but he did not, I just gave up hope , but we made contract if I felt so bad I wanted to harm me I should call him in his private mobile, and I have NEVER used that, but one night I was so sick of all I drank alot of alcahol and went out to "walk" and wanted to take some pills, all ready , but before I took the pills I went to walk and next hink I remember that I was sitting on the ground and did call him OMG I do not remember calling and I just heard him call my name on the phone, so there I was out somewhere near lake , where I like to walk not planning to call him or anyone, but the problem is he lives there nearby and I went to try to look for me and called the police, I understand he had to that.
But I did not let them find me , He tried for 2 hours to find me and talked to me and asked me to let them find me , it was cold and snow. I denied, and finally I promised to go home, and do nothing.
I felt so a shamed of my self to call him , and i was afraid he would finally dump me and see how hopeless case I am ..
So i called him next day and said sorry he said ok we talk in next session what was after 4 days.
But I felt so bad and shamed I sent him mail telling him how sorry I was and pleaded him not to dump me..

The session came and I was so afraid and so sure he had given up on me .. He WAS so ANGRY and asked if I knew where he lived (its small here and knew) but I used to walk there often ,because its very calming place, I started to cry like little baby and said I did NOT mean to call him or anybody , he said he was getting little tired if me like imposing my self in his personal life with e-mail and now almost killing myself near where he lived (not my thinking), maybe he could not handle me , it had taken me 2 years to finally trust him, and he always said there where 2 lives here ,mine and my child so he was not giving up on me nad I should belive him. .

I don't know if he was so angry because I was trying to kill me , or really he wanted to dump me. In the session after his angry talk he said then .. ok lets forget about this and continue our work and move on, we again put our contract in use, and if I was thinking and had no one to call I should call him in his mobile, and I can send him sometimes e-mail if I needed some push like for going to the gym or something like that.. , but now I am again afraid if trusting him , because I finally for the first time let myself trust someone and I have alot of traumas and abuse and depression, and always afraid he was going to dump me, and now I don't know what og how to handle this , I am so afraid to trust that he will give up if I say or do something wrong,, PLEASE can some one give me some opinion , am I paranoid or what ..
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Dearest Anna,

Welcome to the Psych Cafe. You are safe here and the people are wonderful and compassionate... and best of all... many of us can relate well to how you are feeling.

TRUST is one of my deepest problems. Abandonment / rejection is another. I am always checking to see if people are safe to share with... will they hurt me? will they reject me? Over and over my T has had to prove himself to me in this way. I have not crossed the personal boundaries of client therapist, but we do talk about them... I am alowed to text him if I need him...menaing I am in trouble, but I try not to do this too often. there is a mutual respect between us, that has built up over the years.

Now to you... It sounds like your T wants to help you and that he is sincere. I don't know how to tell you to try trusting him, but that is what I would do. Are you on medication for depression? That might help you. It sounds like he is working to help you and your child, but maybe you need more help right now. Maybe since alcohol is a depressant... that is not the best thing for you...idk... Another thought- do you believe in God? the power of prayer? Maybe checking for inpatient help would help. I am just throwing ideas out there, as I do not know you.

What I do know is... you can trust the people here Anna, many of us suffer in similar ways. Keep sharing here, I have found this to help me.

I would write more... but need to get ready for work. We all need to learn to trust someone... but most of all... we need to learn to trust ourselves- that is what I am currently working on. I will be back to check up on you.

Many hugs to you Anna-

Anna- this helps me too.


Opening Prayer:
Lord, I am broken and hurting due to the brokenness of others and mistakes of my own. Please use Your powers to heal me and give me courage to make the choices I need to make to allow Your healing in my life. Forgive me for standing in Your way of healing for me. Thank You for putting to an end my past’s hold upon my life, and for allowing my future to begin right now in this moment with You.

Affirmation:

Today I choose to heal.
My healing begins right now, in this moment.
I am no longer bound by my sick past.
There is healing in my future.
For the next twenty-four hours, I choose to live free and heal.
I choose to let go of past hurts that I cannot undo.
I choose to forgive myself for wrong choices in the past.
Today I will dwell on what is good and right, not on the darkness I have experienced or the darkness others invite me to live.
Today I will live beyond myself and live for God.
On this day I will choose to feel my life rather than live in denial.
I will not medicate away my pain, sorrow, or anxiety.
I will allow each negative feeling to lead me to greater depths of healing.
I will not drown out or ignore my negative emotions.
I will work through these feelings and move out of them.
I will not project them onto those around me.
When I am unaware of what choice to make next, I will choose to do the next right thing.
Today I will not hide or run away.
I will connect with those who love me and with those who need my love.
Throughout this day I will stay connected to God and ask Him to guide me and lead me.
Today will be an adventure for me that I will approach in faith.
I will take a risk and enjoy the unpredictable.
I will feel and acknowledge my fears; but I refuse to be governed by them.
I will choose to do something uncomfortable that might lead me to know the truth about myself or live life to the fullest.
I will not lie to myself today.
I will seek the truth and will ask for help when I need it.
Today I will reestablish some boundaries that will protect me from unhealthy people and unhealthy situations.
I will tear down some walls that are keeping some wonderful people from knowing me and loving me.
If there is some ungrieved loss, I will grieve it as much as I can today, and then put it away.
Today I will choose reality and embrace it.
I will accept my life as it is, and life truthfully and dependently upon God right where I am.
I refuse to wallow in self-pity.
I will not focus on what I do not have or what might have been.
On this day I will not give up.
No matter how difficult the struggle, I choose to persevere.
I will not let any excuse be strong enough to derail my path to healing.
I will never give up or give in to an old life that neither benefited me nor glorified God.
I will allow no one to discourage me.
Today I will heal and rely on God to deliver me through the choices I make.
Today I will allow God to govern my life, and each choice I make, I will make with God in mind and love in my heart.
On this day, I choose healing.
I will do what I can to heal and to accept the limitations God has placed before me.
I will see every limitation I encounter as an invitation by God to do for me what I cannot do for myself.
I will accept that healing is sometimes slow and delayed, and accept this as God’s invitation to grow in character as a result.
Today I will step outside of myself and serve others.
I will find a need and fill it.
I will find the hurt of another and help heal it.
I will not become self-absorbed or filled with self-obsession.
I will reach out to someone in need and do what I can to meet that need.
Today I will ask for God’s help to live out His purpose.
Today I will live for God and not myself.
Today I choose to live.
Today I choose to love.
Today I choose to heal.
HI all.
Thanks for fast reply , I dont drink just 2-3 times a year , and in my contract to the T I am promisse not to drink , I cant be inpatiant because its small here and I am working sometimes in the field in the hospitla, and there still people who dont like those who have mentall issues, my T said in Dec if I would get worse he would ask me to go with him, but I did not then need it, I am just so alone and have no support behind me and thats why my T has been really kind to me, my famyli dondt like that I am getting my self help and I had alot af problems there about that.. I am just so afraid now if he is ready to "dump" me because of this boundaries friction instead of trying ro work on it and fix it, because he knows I am just learning that too, and I was /is trying new medic for deppression, I am on medication for depression and I got new psychiatrist , so I am little bit afraid of trusting him too, but my T (psychologist) is working with him and the psychiatrist will try on me new meds and that has also affectit my mind, I got so bad side affect on 2 and the 3 one I got really depressed on that one, and now I got another one 2 weeks ago and i am feeling little better , but how can I really trust my T , if he was so quick to "dump" me when this happened once. I am so worryed ... My life has become so better because of T help and now I feel like I lost it ALL ,,
Anna ~
Welcome to the forums. Trust is so hard for me too. Your T sounds like he is doing what he can to hang in with you. It also sounds like he was feeling like his boundaries were pushed, but that you and him are clearly working on it. And ultimately, it is his job to keep his boundaries and make sure his clients don't invade his personal life. That's not your job. Your job is to take care of you, and respect his boundaries yes, but I hear that you are doing that in what ways you can and working on it in a huge way. I really hear that in you, and I bet your T does too. It was good and right that you called your T when you got so sucidial. That was a good thing - please don't doubt that or feel bad that you called him. It's disappouinting that he thought that where you were walking had anything to do with him Frowner instead of what it really was. I think it is very likely that a big part of his angry reaction was the thought that you were so close to death (I am glad you didn't die) and he would have been so hurt if he lost you - no matter where you would have died. It sounds like he really cares. I think his anger was more about the possible pain of losing you, not that he just was wanting to dump you or just being frustrated with you.

It makes sense why you are scared now he will dump you and you are scared to trust and risk again. At the same time, a T who is willing to be angry, and work through it to get back on track, is often the kind of T who doesn't dump a patient quickly. It can be very healing work even to work to be back on track. To repair the relationship. I know things feel really scary and rocky right now, and I dont know if he will hang in with you or not, but the fact that he wanted to move on and get back on track after being angry - I think that might be a good sign actually. It will take some time for things to be back on track after such a breakdwon and rupture between a client and a T, but sounds like from what you have shared that he is willing to work to be back on track. Mistakes might happen again, but mistakes happen a lot in good therapy.

I think he is worth taking the risk to trust and keep trusting. I also think you should be very kind and gentle with yourself as it will take a little time to re-build the trust back to where it was. But, I think it is possible it could end up being an evern better relationship as you experience that a rupture, a breakdown in the relationship can happen, but without him abandoning you - the hard thing is that learning and experiencing this means facing the risk there is in trusting.

I really deeply struggle with trust too. Sometimes it gets easier, and then sometimes it gets harder all over again. I actually had my old T dump me, rather suddenly. It was an awful experience, one I understand very much understand the fear of - I was very scared too. Yet at the same time, when that old T dumped me, I found a better T, who helped me heal even more than the old T could have. While I hope that your T doesn't dump you, please know that if that should happen (and I don't think it will) - we are here and people here understand that kind of thing and you are by no means alone in it. One thing that has helped me keep growing in trust in spite of it all, or through it all, is to keep reaching out for support and help other places - like here - and you are doing that too.

You have a lot to be proud of in all of this. I know it feels so hopeless, and it is very scary to risk and trust, and I hear that you feel like all is lost, but I see much reason for hope about your relationship with your T and much strength and courage in you - and I have a feeling your T sees it too.



~ jane
Hi .

Thanks all for your kind words, I wish I have found this place sooner, because this has been eating me alive, i just wanted to give up my work and stay in bed, I just feel so hopeless about my situasion , it has been a long road for me and my T to where I am now, and took me some years to finally able to talk about some thinks, and however he has not been trained to deal with like pstd he was villing to read and still help me with the pain of that,,
I was race up lika dont trust no one, and that still is present and my T knows that, I am seeing him in few days, should I disscus this matter like that I was hurt that he was so angry and wanted to dump me , or try to move on, but I feel hurt, but I am afraid of telling him that , then he thinks I am so hopeless, and I cant move on ;((
Anna, Hi, you got some good replies so far.

I really heard myself, a bit, in your story.

I could share my long story, but, ugh, I have decided not to. I want to keep this short. (sorry didn't end up short)

Let me say that in Dec 2011 (8 weeks ago) my T got quite angry with me (a 3 minute conversation over the phone when she called me to check on me - an arranged day prior to her leaving for vacation). She wanted me to go to the ER to get at least Ativan, for anxiety, and so I could sleep. I was afraid they would put me inpatient, because I knew I felt more than anxiety. I felt depressed. I know she was angry because I was headed downward again and she saw it and wanted to prevent me getting suicidal again.

I had a 14 day break from her in December due to holidays and on January 4th, my first session back with her, we were both raising our voices at each other. But, somewhere in there, I "heard" her and made the call to get medication again.

--------

Little bit of history:

I had medication in Oct 2010 when I was so depressed I started to hallucinate in her office, but medication they chose made me worse by Dec 2010 I was suicidal and went into hospital voluntarily (had to because the psychiatrist went out of town for holiday and there was a 7 week gap in seeing him!). I lost trust in this psychiatrist and quit all my meds on my own in June 2011. And, for awhile I was good, then okay, then a bunch of stressful things piled on top of me and I started to get depressed again....

What I am saying is that I am one who needs medicine. I wanted to do therapy alone. I wanted my T to fix me, without medication. I even told her that. She told me she wouldn't make it a criteria (for me to be on meds) for her seeing me, but it definitely affected our relationship. She got very frustrated, even angry, when she wanted to help me, but I was so depressed and anxious she couldn't do anything but sit and watch me crash.

She told me Jan 4th that medication is for symptoms, it does not take the place of therapy.

On Jan 5th I made a call and found someone to prescribe meds and saw her next day. It was perfect, so fast, just what I needed.

Of course my T was pleased Jan 9th when I told her what I had done....started meds. The med I started made me weep....cry like random times and like a baby, just sob. That only lasted 3 weeks, and T said it was how I 'really' felt inside, that the medicine wasn't causing it. And, now I only cry when something is painful and, well, when I'm sad.

But, interesting, now, the past week, I am on what feels like the "right meds" for me, and therapy is going so well. I'm so comfortable with her. I feel so safe. I know she would do a lot, like your T, to search for me and to help me. (I think it is probably common for Ts to worry a lot when a client has suicidal feelings.) My T wouldn't be working the job she works if she wasn't wanting to help people like me. I trust her so much, now....but I also feel like I'm working 'with' her, if that makes sense. I'm there for PTSD and to heal from some childhood stuff and marriage problems, etc.

I am not saying you need medication.

I'm just sharing my story.

I was really feeling for you while reading your post. I am concerned for you.



Ninn
Hi .
Thanks for all your hugs and support .. Hug two

I went and saw my T today, and he was great and not going to dump me or angry with me.
We meet once a week and now again after 2 weeks, he ís off next week,
I did talk little bit about last session and that I was so afraid he was dumping me and that now I was little bit afraid to tell him things.
That I was to much hassle and I was to difficult,

He said that if I was someone else he would have pushed much harder to ask me to go to hospital for my own safety, but I know allot of people who work in this field in the hospital and he knows I refuse to go there, It has been hard enough to keep my work and go to work and deal with life on daily basis , that I am not going to have people talking about me..

He said also he was little frustrated that I was like crashing and did not quite listen to him, and it was not easy to see me like that , and that he did not want to have the responsibility if I do something to myself, and that he did not want that he has to think about it outside of our session that if i was going to do something, then he would be frustrated and it can affect how he things about me ..

But now I am in a safe place and has no plan to do something, I can e-mail him if I start to think about some bad thinks like harming me or something, and he answear me back with some good word to keep me going, and I have used our contract and I got extra appointment back in desember,
I also has his mobile if I on the brick of desperation .
We plan to meet 1 week until summer and see then , I have been seeing him if all is going well every 2 weeks, on some months off from 2008 so he knows me best and I know him really well ,, Its small here, so I run sometimes into him in the street , .. We have been trying Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) , How has that been working for you here , I am finding it really difficult to "chance" my thoughts !
It sounds like you have been having quite a painful and challenging time Anna and it is wonderful that you found here - and can write here and get responses. I don't know what country you are in, and it doesn't really matter but I find that most people here are in America and things can work differently at the practical level. I live in England so see a psychologist for free on the NHS but I am fortunate.

I think you are still half consciously seeing if he IS truly trustworthy. I still do that with my psychologist. I fo further than I have ever gone, more extreme, in my distress, than I ever have, simply because I am wide open now and then he remains steady for me and I steady out again.

We NEED to know if they are REALLY there for us, or if they are only there until it gets bad and then they run like other people have done in our lives. It is wonderful if/when we find that they stay with us even through the worst bit. If he is a psychologist, he will be used to things getting very rocky indeed and be able to stay reasonably calm.

I am sorry you are in such a difficult place.


From your post about your most recent session, it is clear that he is very much there for you and is allowing contact in between sessions.

Of course he wants you to be safe, and he has a professional responsibility to prove that he has kept you as safe as he can. It IS worrying if a client is indicating serious suicidal behaviour, it is a big RED FLAG and rightly so. From our side as clients we respect them and try to do what we have contracted with them to do, like phone if we are feeling THAT bad, and also doing our best to inform them if we are even beginning to feel worse, BEFORE it gets too bad.

This should all be well known to him if he is an experienced psychologist.

I think he cares about you too.

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×