Question about therapy

Una+ wrote:Don't pretend anything, just focus on reporting your symptoms.

This one sentence sums up completely what you should be spending the first session doing. If you think you are likely to over exaggerate or understate the symptoms, write them out on a page to hand over in the first session giving a few brief specific and prominent examples from your life. By having it written down you have a chance to make sure you don't over or under state the importance of any symptoms and you get to see if they can make a diagnosis. They won't be giving you a diagnosis of DID after the first session because they need to have actually seen you switch to confirm and make the diagnosis. It might take a few sessions before they will commit to a diagnosis.

I wrote out some of my symptoms and past trauma and just handed it to my T in the first session. It made the session flow a lot smoother... I'd definitely recommend writing some notes for them...

Writing it down sounds great, but the few sessions before a diagnosis thing...We have insurance that's paying for the sessions, but they won't pay without a diagnosis. I wonder how she'll diagnose me?

feeling-empty wrote:We have insurance that's paying for the sessions, but they won't pay without a diagnosis.

Usually the insurance company will accept claims for some number of sessions before diagnosis. If not, there are placeholder diagnostic codes.

I think you have gotten some excellent advice here. Mine would be that I wouldn't wait past the third session before you hand a new T a list of the members of your system and a bit of information you know about each. This is data for a good T and if s/he says something negative or dismissive, well, that speaks volumes.

I personally would never refer to my parts as voices because it's not primarily what they are or do and it's too suggestive of schizophrenia. All twelve have influenced my behavior (or someone else's) at some point and taken over the body as well, without my consent before this year, with my consent this year.

InfinitD, I too have had a dozen or so average to incompetent therapists. None were excellent, though I take responsibility for not making something more effective happen.