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Sorry I post so much, I am still trying to make sense of the last sessions and the following black hole.

Last session started "normally", it was about SI, not my favourite topic, but I can deal with it. Then, I knew I had to talk about the One True Trigger (OTT), which has been acting up lately, and I felt it was pointless to pretend I am doing therapy if I ignore the issue n°1.

So I tried. And then, I got lost. I don't exactly know what happened. Suddenly I was entirely in my head, it felt dark, as if I was hiding to not see the scary things outside. I was looking at the rug. The pattern of the rug. THE PATTERN OF THE RUG. All I could feel was fear, and if you focus hard enough on not feeling, not hearing and trying to understand the pattern of the rug, scary things won't hurt you. I "think" that T was still here, at one moment she said she was still there, but it felt as if it was coming from another universe, and I could not go back there, everything was scary. I think this lasted some time. And I do not know what I said or did not say (which is... frustrating to say the least, since I really would like to know what I said about OTT, since it is a sensitive topic).

Then I was feeling the outside again, and we were talking about practical stuff, linked with the OTT. I just have this scary black moment in the middle, and every time I try to remember it I get stuck in the pattern of the rug again and in the feeling of fear which "shuts me off" to the outside world.

Any... insight on that and how to deal with it/remember the scary part?

Thank you for reading.
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Hi, About.
I'm sorry you're struggling right now. I don't know for sure how to retrieve things from the black hole, but sometimes when I think I can't remember anything from a session, if I write down everything I can remember from the beginning to the end of the session, then I "find" more of the session than I could have recalled by just thinking about it.

It's almost as if writing down one statement or event (e.g., T offered me a glass of water) will bring back the next event in the sequence, even though I wouldn't have remembered it otherwise. I don't know if this would work for true dissociative moments, but it might be worth a try.

Of course, you could also ask T to recall what was said, to help you reconstruct the session. And/or... maybe the specifics aren't as important as the feelings? Maybe the fact that OTT caused the scary shut-down is the starting point for your next discussion with T?

Sorry if this isn't helpful Confused

RabbitEars
Thank you to both of you Smiler

I tried writing down the session, and usually helps/ helped with the biggest part of the session, in which I was actually there/normal but I still have a 15 min (approximately) blank right at the moment when I tried to broach the main topic. Too bad^^. I remember this moment (I remember the rug and the darkness very intensely) but.... I am guessing I/T was speaking since after we were talking about something different.

Anyway... that's interesting, I did not know my brain could feel like that, I am somehow impressed at everything our brains can do out of fear....
I understand about the rug - T used to have a tree outside that I knew in intricate detail from gazing out of the window and taking myself away from whatever we were discussing. I knew how many branches it had, noticed when it came into bud, flowered, came into leaf....used to spend ages and ages counting leaves when things got really bad Roll Eyes
Then we moved rooms Frowner Really miss that tree Roll Eyes
Wow, Starfish I have a very similar tree story. My T has moved premises and I had to leave my tree behind - it was a copper beech. I like them a lot.

I don't love where we've moved to as it is a set of rooms where I had some very shortlived therapy in the past. It didn't go well and I quit. Luckily there is sufficient emotional distance that it doesn't bother me as much as I originally thought it would, which is a relief.

About, I'm always amazed at what our brains can do too. I hope you can talk to your T about what happened and how you might deal with it together if it crops up again in session. What you describe sounds really distressing. Hug two

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