He said 'I'll see you next week'

I put together a website a while back:

https://wtdiycat.vercel.app/

I'd make more of an effort to distribute it if I was happier with it. in particular I think it needs simpler language.

Look into CBT techniques, a big part of it is training yourself to catch bad thoughts as they happen and correct them.

Also breathing techniques

You are a hairless ape whos been plucked out of the grassy plains of Africa and put in an artificially lit world where each day contains more hostile stimulation than you would normally process in a month. Your brain isn't built to handle the information overload that social media, commuting, taxes, work, news, rent inspections and basic modern life contains. You are right to feel a constant sense of fight or flight at this bizzare and hostile alien world.

If feeling overwhelmed, do the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding method.

Find and make note of:

• 5 things you see
• 4 things you touch
• 3 things you hear
• 2 things you can smell
• 1 thing you can taste/recall tasting

And the idea with this is to stop dwelling on your negative spiral, and to focus on immediate surroundings.

Therapist also said to feel free to mix and match the sense with the number. For example, I don't have a good sense of smell, so I do 2 things I can taste/remember tasting, and 1 thing I can smell.

Set boundaries and enforce them.

"being aware of, and able to accurately diagnose the type of mental illness you're dealing with is not the same thing as actually working to fix it"

And

"That's bullshit. Honestly. That's bullshit. Just because you can articulately attempt to justify it doesn't mean it's justified"

Also

"Sometimes things just suck and you have to deal with that for a long time"

I'm sorry OP, the hour has ended. Try not to -you know- yourself till next session. Have a nice weekend

"Be on time for your appointment next week"

Here, I hope it will help

The advice is usually pretty common sense and likely nothing you haven't heard before. The main benefit is having a safe space you can discuss your anxieties with a professional and having someone who will listen with minimal judgement. Also sometimes you need to be reminded of common sense when you lose sight of it.

Basically it's a paid friendship without all the other benefits of friendship.

Honestly I wouldn't be going if it weren't fully covered by my husband's insurance.

I have a few but my absolute favorite was when he said " Imagine there's a woman, maybe she is homeless or on drugs, and she shouts at you as you walk by across the street. She says you look like a cockroach. What would you do? " "Probably laugh" "Exactly, think of your parent as that woman. They have no effect on your life but noise" I'm paraphrasing but I liked the idea of my negative thoughts ingrained by generations of trauma being like a random shouting on the street.

I will share and highly recommend this resource: Western Australia's Centre for Clinical Interventions's Self Help Resources. Of course, these are applicable to anyone, not just Australians. There are various pages for different types of conditions (anxiety, assertiveness, procrastinating, eating disorders, etc.), and most of them take you to self-directed workbooks you can fill out yourself. They're not only informative, but they also guide you through your thinking about these issues and how to deal with them and grow from them.

"Some people can't be fixed. Just try not to be yourself when your decisions affect other people so you minimize the harm you cause them. When you have an instinct to do or say something, the correct action is probably the exact opposite."

Apparently they hate trying to treat people with BPD (Edit: Borderline personality disorder, not bi-polar) because it's damned near impossible and the options available are questionably effective at best.

May be kinda specific (and poorly worded), but basically she said that negative feelings come from places where my mental image of the world conflicts with objective reality. This was mostly related to my relationship with my father, as i was looking up to him and seeking his approval, while ignoring the fact that neither he should be a role model or i can be a person whom he would accept. I found this advice applicable to many other situations, but unfortunately i mostly use it after the fact — i get disappointed or angry about something and then i ask myself "Ok, but what i imagined things would be? What else am i wrong about?"

Yes its *possible, but not plausible_

Right, kick ass. Well, don't want to sound like a dick or nothin', but, ah... it says on your chart that you're fucked up.

Get a hobby, get outside. Doesn't have to cost much either.

Sometimes in the summer I go to the beach before work and cook my breakfast there on a camping stove burning driftwood as fuel.

Find a job as soon as possible so you can make yourself useful and you'll feel better.

At this point I'm fully convinced therapy is about making you a cog in the machine of capitalism and not about making you feel better and more realized as a person.

Your misery cannot possibly be the result a structurally oppressive society, look at how well I'm doing. Now go kick your mom in the vagina and suck dick for therapy fares, and come back next week.