containment therapy with new psych, any advice?

i need some advice. my psych who works in a team has asked me for several months to move on with another collega in some kind of containment therapy, so with her i will be talking, i imagine things of my past. he says that with him we will continue with what he calls more of a therapeutisch treatment. with him we speak of my kids, work, social life, institutions, etc.
so here goes the question. In two days we will meet the three of us..
he said to avoid misunderstandings, and i wonder what kind of misunderstandings can happen?

what should i ask? i can not imagine how this sessions will go with his collega, she seems a nice person and she is a psychologe. If i understand something, is that he will continue dealing with my eventueel psycosis and cognitive problems, and anxiety, and she will work with me with my depersonalisation and possible dissassociations...something like this. All of this continues to be new to me.

what should i ask, what kind of limits should i propose? when i asked him if i could talk with him over things i speak with her, he said that it was better to keep it contained for a while. i am a little lost. at the beginning very afraid, but it has been almost six months talking about this, any advice?

hi there

Really sorry you are feeling so lost. this is never a nice place to be in.

Communication is 100% of what make thearpy work. So if you dont understand it's important your T knows this.

I had a couple ideas that might help you

1. Take a print of the post you wrote and post/send/email/ give it to him before the next session.
This way he will have to to prepare answers to the questions you are asking.

2. you could also or aswell write out a list of questions that you have. From what i read (i may be wrong and it happens often) you dont sem to understand what role your new T will play. So you could ask that. Also has he expalined exactly what 'caontainment' her proposes? This is a very open thrase. You could ask him to explain exactly what he means but in practicality and in theory. I found this as an explainantion of caontainment T.

http://www.myshrink.com/counseling-theory.php?t_id=32

3. Regarding Limits to propose . With my T we have an understanding that if i say No or raise my hand then we stop. She asks why we cant go there. We discuss resoning and decise together is we stop going down that route, put it on hold or go forward with the understanding we can stop at any time. I'm not sure if that helps.

4. misunderstandings... when one person decribes what another persons speciality is without understanding thereself things often get all messed up on both sides. Its like a plumbing trying to give you a adescription of a cartoonists rendering techniques. The plumbing can give a brief outline but anything else he is out of his depths.So i think the idea of all of you meeting is so you all get to talk for yourself.

5. At the start of your next seesion when all three of you meet. Ask one of them to make bullet points for you so that you can walk away with the basics of the meeting and reflect on the bullet points to give you help remembering and understanding what exactly happened.


I hope that helped in some way and didnt come out as bull!!! All i'm going on it the things i do , to help me get through difficult T times.

best of luck

c

thanks a lot riverside,
I did go today with your advice in hand.
you gave me an idea of what to expect.
my psych was present as she took over. it was very unconfortable and she moved to fast to things I did not wanted to talk about. I shut down...she began with exercises,
I felt pretty much invaded...later on I was able to tell her that I did not like when people invade my space. she appreciated this.

I felt a bit ridicule with the exercises to help me be present?, I asked time out to go to the bathroom, but going back was even harder...the room seemed a bit small.

it did not go too good. she said that we will focus more on the present and the future.
she is nice, but this is nobody's land, and it will not be easy.

I wonder if I am ready for this, or if this is the right timing.....

thanks anyway!!!

loise wrote:I felt a bit ridicule with the exercises to help me be present?

I know the feeling. When I first did some of the basic grounding exercises they seemed absurd and I felt very foolish doing them. How could these silly games be helpful? I resisted doing them for a long time. But you know what? They actually do help.

Try to work with this new person for a while. If she is going too fast, if you are overwhelmed, feeling invaded, and so on, it is absolutely okay to say so and even to get up and leave. That is part of keeping you safe, which is most important. Speaking up for yourself like this is maintaining your personal boundaries in a healthy way.

hey there

i am to very sorry you felt invaded but pleased i helped in some way.

I read what una said it complelty the same for me.

When i started groundinh techniques for ptsd i thought they were stupid and therefore so am i!
I also thought how on earth can simple things likerubbing feet on the ground and noticing textures help me sort all these terrible things?

I was wrong but on looking back it was completly understandable. It's difficult to accept advice that seems to make it look like its ment to be easy. Its difficult to accept that some one wants to help or might know what they are doing (even just a little bit)

Its a process, a hard one with lots of twists and turns. step by step keep looking back. You were strong just going to see the lady today. You went into an unknown situation! pat on the back, it takes courage to meet the unkown.

I am so sorry you felt invaded. How ever like una said, you set your boundries. Keep to them. They are what keep you safe. You need to build a relationship with this new T. She has to earn your trust. Thats the most important part at the start. You build the relationship and bit by bit let that person in. They have to earn that trust. Its part of there job description!!!

I hope this message meets you ina bit of a better place than when you posted the original post.

river

thanks Una and Riverside for your comments.
i did hated the exercises and they made me feel more ridiculous than what already was going on.

i am still with a bath feeling in my mouth, and the problem is that i have that bad habit of rumiating things over and over and over....and sometimes things that did not happened but feed the negative feeling afterwards. i know they want to help and i do want to remain open. i do not have another meeting until february because she has a trip. better so.

a little complication is that last march i had a mega muscle contraction in my low back, just like having a baby. with my psych we have thought that it was maybe related tot he moment that a big dissassociation took place. i am not physically recovered from that, i can not sit too long without cramps in my lower parts. pain was already present, but this one is in my column.
yesterday i was trying to calm myself down, because i felt a couple of them, lighter without pain but very clear.

i am afraid that i am sabotaging myself. my psych spoke of psicosis and dementia (i have asked him many times to investigate asperges).
i think it happens only when i am with more than one person, that i space out, sometimes i repeat the words i hear inside me, but they do not have any meaning, i loose track of the conversation, and i see lately that people around me notice that.

why would i want to be present all the time? life would be unbearable.
thanks for your support
l

i am taking for the first time oxazepam. the anxiety went up and up. my spasms lasted days in the fingers of my hand, it all became too much. thanks God was my psych still available,
he has walked with me through this days over the telefoon.
I am taking one fourth during the day, sometimes I need two times, and at night three fourths.

still a low dosis but I am afraid of becoming dependant, at the end of everydosis the nervousness and anxiety is pretty high. any way he has been monitoring me and Christmas dinner, very simple only my children and me was nice and very peaceful, so so far I have..we have survived,
Monday my son 's bday, Tuesday old an new year. first time my children will spend old and new with me, last eleven years they spent it with their father. It was a relief for me, I just ate something that I liked and watched tv...this year I will have to socialize...auch!! until late hours, plus expectations of my 17 year old that wants to party with older people, so not happy when I say no...

still a week to survive................

-- Fri Dec 27, 2013 11:15 am --

I forgot to tell, I saw saving mr. banks, and I somehow could relate to the girl....maybe that is what is bothering me........

Hey there-

Just a quick comment as I'm on the run (not literally)

I just wanted to give you a huge YOUR DOING AMASSING and YOUR VERY BRAVE

Pills are not or enemy-they are there to work with us. I'm on so many different pain killers and others , eleven in totally and I'm not addict to one . Sure if I stop taking one I get some side effects but they don't last.
your worry about addiction is founded however I have a feeling it is anxiety that is blowing it up into a bigger worry. In the end-what worse,a chemical addiction that would take a couple months to wean off or living on a constant high alert? It's a means to an ends!

Anxiety is a nasty little bugger that takes a single thought and turns it into a nightmare saga! Don't let it win.the best tool against anxiety is relaxation. Well done for the nice food and TV it's a great way to chill and be good to your self.

Keep up with the self soothing exercises-as for your kids-maybe let your inner child/teenager (that's not angry) come out for new years. Get a take away-a couple of beers-even let your teenager have a bit!I know it's out there, I'm not saying let him get drunk.I'm just saying it's better for him to have done it with you than the older people who would get him totally obliterated drunk just to laugh at him not handling his alcohol. Put on some music and dance and embarrasses your kids-they may troll you to stop but they will love it and you could get them to join in? How about a couple low key fire works in the gardenif your have one?
Take away, music, TV, fireworks, board games?-what part of you wouldn't like it and what post of them wouldn't?

Kind thoughts
River

thanks riverside!
i am beginning to see for the first time, myself and anxiety as a major component over who i am, difficult to zwallow, but it brings some understanding over everything.
you are right about the pills, the fear of addiction y not only my natural tendency to make everything big, but my dad was an addict my brother too and at some point when i was young i thought i was getting there too.

i do get allergies, i get rash and my tongue grows, that kind of scares me, but i have the anthistaminic with me in case it gets worst.

regarding my children, two wil go dancing and one has to work so i will have my peaceful ol/new transition, only with a small feeling of not matching my?/their expectations, but this is who i am.


i see that i still have lots of works to do, but i am thankful for so many things and among them, this forum, you, that have given me the space to speak the unspeakable, to share what nobody knew, to learn and walk through my own tabooes.
a big hug!!

Loise, you have a psychiatrist to monitor you, who will help to ensure you do not become addicted. This medication is just temporary. Learning more about your condition, and psychotherapy, will do wonders to relieve your anxiety permanently and soon you won't need the medication. Baby steps.

Why not come here to celebrate the New Year? It will be very asynchronous but gratifying anyway.