A Psychotherapist Goes To Therapy — And Gets A Taste Of Her Own Medicine

This is a link to "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross.  If you would like to get a stronger sense of therapy, you might find this episode useful and enjoyable:  https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/03/28/707561940/a-psychotherapist-goes-to-therapy-and-gets-a-taste-of-her-own-medicine

Ferris Jabr

10-13 minutes

When Shirley was in her mid-20s she and some friends road-tripped to Las Vegas on a lark. That was the first time she gambled. Around a decade later, while working as an attorney on the East Coast, she would occasionally sojourn in Atlantic City. By her late 40s, however, she was skipping work four times a week to visit newly opened casinos in Connecticut. She played blackjack almost exclusively, often risking thousands of dollars each round—then scrounging under her car seat for 35 cents to pay the toll on the way home.

Robert Solley

Under stress it’s often easier to see what someone else is doing wrong than what you are doing wrong. It’s easier to see the food stuck in your partner’s teeth than your own. To see your own you would first need to locate a mirror and then look into it. And then you would need to open your lips to be able to see your own teeth. And we’re not even talking yet about finding the motivation to locate and look in the mirror, much less to expose the ugly condition of your teeth to yourself.

Nicole Pajer

After a bout of breakup-induced anxiety and depression, 31-year-old New York City resident Emily Taylor decided to look for a therapist. But finding a mental health professional to accept her Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance plan proved to be nearly impossible.

“I spent days looking for therapists near me that were covered by my insurance,” Taylor said. “For the very few I did find, I spent over five hours on the phone trying to get appointments, [only] to find that they were either not accepting new patients or the wait time was two months.

Whether you're in recovery or not, the mantra"one day at a time"can help to keep

your feet on the ground. Really, our only option is to take things one day at a time.

But, some days, living life one day at a time can feel incredibly frustrating. We want

to be "better" or "recovered" or changed in some wayright now.  Daily progress feels

slow. We get impatient. Why can't the bright future you imagine just be here already?

Looking to get more from life?  This video can help:

There is a changing trend in therapy.  Time was a client entering therapy could expect, and perhaps fear, a long stay.  I think being trapped in therapy  was dreaded by many and kept some from going to therapy despite a need for help.

 

Today the field of therapy has accepted  a reality that many come to therapy because they are experiencing a problem that they need help with, yet are not wanting a long term excavation of their psyche.

 

I believe that this is a positive change and have seen a change in my practice.

Women have puzzled over it for years—why the heck do men do the things they do? Why do they profess their love for you one minute, then ignore you the next (say, when an Attila the Hun special turns up on TV)? Why can they not remember our birthdays?