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Therapy
Written by Dan on Tuesday, August 28, 2007
I wrote a while ago that I was going to see a therapist who treats PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). The idea is that I think I have PTSD as well as BIID, and PTSD is supposed to be treatable.
Today I saw the therapist. He took a history, including about BIID. He was already familiar with BIID.
He agreed that there is nothing that can be done about BIID. He said I had an anxiety disorder. PTSD is one kind of anxiety disorder.
He said that BIID would be a big obstacle in treating anything else. He proposed that I should have two sessions of Cognitive-Behavior therapy. If there is any improvement after two sessions, he thinks that about 8 sessions might reduce the anxiety by about half, and that is about as much as I could hope for. If there is no improvement after two sessions, there is no point continuing.
He also said that it is very important to have marriage counseling with my wife, and referred me to a counselor for that. I can’t make any progress while my wife is undoing it.
He said that for people with problems like mine, traditional analysis does more harm than good. This agrees with my experience.
This sounds like a reasonable plan. I will go ahead with it, and see what happens. He of course wouldn’t go so far as to say "go have your leg off and then come back for therapy if needed", but this is a logical possibility to me. He did say that if I had one amputation I might just want more, but I am now 100% confident that that would not happen to me.
I will have to find another job before I will have any time for treatment, even a short course like this. I also find that this job is not compatible with family life at all. I am looking for a part- time job.
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5 Comments
I’m amazed that you were able to find a therapist not only familiar with BIID but sympathetic to the issues related to it.
This guy sounds like a gem. I hope it works out so you can go back to him.
3 On 29 August, 2007, Claire said:
Good stuff. It’s nice to be hearing positive things about therapy and BIID. We’ve so far yet to hear that therapy actually did anything to address BIID directly, and yet it can and is helping transabled people with other issues that improves their overall quality of life. If the therapist can take into account BIID while doing that, so much the better. It’s working out fairly well for me.
I am a little unclear on this topic. Is the idea that BIID as a condition itself must be addressed before other issues can be handled in therapy, or are they saying that perhaps BIID is subconsciously getting in the way of other issues to avoid addressing them?
I believe that BIID is an obstacle to the success of therapy for any other purpose. My mind is so accustomed to going to “I will be OK only when my leg is off” that it is unable to go other places when I try to improve my self-esteem.
I don’t think BIID is a way to avoid addressing other issues. I have tried very hard to do so, for a long time, without a lot of success.
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1 On 28 August, 2007, Sean said:
This is an interesting take, that BIID is actually a block to addressing other issues. I’ll be interested to see how Cognitive-Behaviour therapy helps you with the anxiety. It’s been often suggested that C-B could take care of BIID, though I’m less than convinced.
I wish you luck, and look forward to hearing from you about the results.