Dr. Howes,
I appreciate your talking about "therapy constipation" in your blog. Not many take the time to talk about th subject but, if someone sticks with therapy long enough it's bound to happen. I have found that "talking about it" and "sitting with it" have both been strategies that serve me well. Thanks for the other ideas too.

Paul

There are days where I jot down notes for myself on papers and stick them in my purse only to forget they are there, when in session, my purse on my lap - papers forgotten. But there are days where I've said what I want and then, i say, "That's all I got. Don't know what else to tell ya". Most of the time because I'm exhausted and turning yourself inside out is hard work. Revisiting your stresses to go over with your therapist and then getting upset again. Then they talk you down and you're calm and... there's 30 minutes left.

I'm guilty of the bail out mainly on days where I feel so scattered, I know the person sitting in front of me is not. He helps bring me back. Usually, he doesn't probe with questions, but instead, recaps what I was on about the week before and asks about progress, usually leading me into something meaningful that I can take with me. That way I don't leave feeling like I've wasted my time. I consider that very important teaching and to sleep during class is just not going to fly...

I very much enjoy reading your blog, it has great points and reminds us to keep the person in front of us in perspective, not the idea of the therapist.

Look forward to more!
Peace,
Carolyn

Yes, this has happened to me, but it has never been a problem. If we have worked on a particularily hard problem and it took 40 minutes instead of 60 I'll say, "That has given me a lot to work on. But now I am emotionally drained. How are you?" At other times I have felt like I just can't find the words to express my feelings. It's easy to tell him that. I like him a lot and I respect him. I trust him to be able to guide us back to the work at hand and help me with the next step. Usually he sumerizes what we just talked about. Sometimes he suggests that if we are finished with that topic, he'd like to go back to something we were discussing last week. And do you know what? Sometimes it is okay to ask, "Are you looking forward to your vacation?" and just talk about everyday normal things - a garden, a pet, a holiday.... Not often, but sometimes. He can usually come up with a good joke if we're at an end. Sometimes I say "I feel like we've done enough for today. I think I will leave early and give you a little break." But he would not let me leave if he felt I was holding something back. He would approach from a different angle. He is very good at his job so constipation isn't a problem.