September 9th, 2018

[zombie]

Dream, does your therapist have a personal history of depression?

I honestly don't know. Why?

Experience trumps education.

If I were in some depression I'd rather sit through sessions of you talking about it than a therapist who doesn't even know what it feels like.

what it feels like to dream may not be what it feels like to you. and what it feels like to her therapist (if he's dealt with it) may not feel like it does for either of you. it hits everyone in different ways and to different degrees. therapy and support doesn't have to come from knowing exactly how you're being affected through first hand experience.

[Foo]

You can add James Bond to the list of movies I have never seen. Have seen bits and pieces of a couple. Saw every minute of the Austin Powers movies if that counts for anything...

the list was bond, star wars, indy, lotr, right? were there others?

Have seen and enjoyed the first three Indy movies. Hunger games I have not seen. Did see a couple of the Twilights and thought they were good for what they were.

[Foo]

Dream, does your therapist have a personal history of depression?

I honestly don't know. Why?

Just curious. I don't know how you evaluate the wisdom of a therapist without considering their experiences. I have mentioned before I am a member of a lot of food truck and mobile food vending forums and it is AMAZING how many let on like they are seasoned pros and you discover they have not even went through an entire season and later discover they washed out of the business very quickly.

I would imagine with any therapy, there is a also that balance between seeing it through while considering the ratio of what you like to hear and what you need to hear. One of my aunt's caregivers was a regular in therapy, and it was pretty clear she valued advice with a certain slant and disregarded advice that did not jive with her preconceived notions. Basically, any advice that entailed taking on personal responsibility, she ignored but anything that shifted blame onto others in her past, she embraced.

Also, the type of person who enters that field. Kinda like a person is already a feminist before they pursue women's studies. It was not based on years of education. On the flipside, someone who is interested from the beginning, may be a better student and more empathetic.

[Foo]

Dream, does your therapist have a personal history of depression?

I honestly don't know. Why?

Experience trumps education.

If I were in some depression I'd rather sit through sessions of you talking about it than a therapist who doesn't even know what it feels like.

Should be noted that there are different methods and goals of different types of therapy. Maybe you are better off with a dude who says he resists slitting his wrists after every therapy session you have together, or maybe you are better off with someone with a healthy and happy outlook who never has those urges.

[Dream]

Dream, does your therapist have a personal history of depression?

I honestly don't know. Why?

Just curious. I don't know how you evaluate the wisdom of a therapist without considering their experiences. I have mentioned before I am a member of a lot of food truck and mobile food vending forums and it is AMAZING how many let on like they are seasoned pros and you discover they have not even went through an entire season and later discover they washed out of the business very quickly.

I would imagine with any therapy, there is a also that balance between seeing it through while considering the ratio of what you like to hear and what you need to hear. One of my aunt's caregivers was a regular in therapy, and it was pretty clear she valued advice with a certain slant and disregarded advice that did not jive with her preconceived notions. Basically, any advice that entailed taking on personal responsibility, she ignored but anything that shifted blame onto others in her past, she embraced.

Also, the type of person who enters that field. Kinda like a person is already a feminist before they pursue women's studies. It was not based on years of education. On the flipside, someone who is interested from the beginning, may be a better student and more empathetic.

He doesn't give advice at all. It's more about putting myself (mentally) back into situations I've already been through and looking at them from the perspective of an adult who successfully lived through it instead of continuously viewing the experience through the emotions of a kid who was in constant survival mode. I talk to him about what I was picturing (not specifics, it can be as simple as "I was just talking to my mom about it" or as detailed as I want to get "I was sitting in the front seat of the car and refused to get out until she spoke to me", etc), how it made me feel and how my body reacted to the memory.

A lot of it is removing the blame from myself for things that were beyond my ability to control (Such as being expected to talk my mom out of suicide as a kid. That experience was one of many that made it very hard for me to connect with other people. I was constantly in fear of losing anyone I got close to. Looking at it now, I can see that nothing I could have said or done as a 5 or 6-year-old could have actually changed my mom's mind and for her to make me feel like I was responsible for her choice in whether she lived or died was incredibly cruel, even if it was done unintentionally.)

Another part is accepting the blame for things I've done and the choices I've made that were within my ability to control. (Such as being an alcoholic at 19.)