Re: Pshychoanalysis anyone?

[Anonymous]

@ bibliophile – the therapy sessions in no way discuss my symptoms, or examine the way my brain works. I am asked to talk about my life – the first thing that comes into my head if possible. It’s all about re-examining all the painful events in your life, and how you coped with them, and felt about them. Defence mechanisms are pointed out by the therapist when they occur, and you are forced to pull your defences down and examine the “real you”. The “you” that hated your mother for something she did, or resented a sibling just for being young enough to take attention away from you. The guilt for not telling anyone about somthing important, or finally facing up to an addiction of some sort.

Having your mind go blank is a sign of avoidance, which certainly happened to me initially. But then I just blurted out the first thing that cropped into my mind, and the doc made a few guiding remarks to help me see my “defenses” kicking in when the topic became too threatening for me to want to deal with. It’s very confronting, but I can see where it will allow me to move on eventually. Many of the ADHD symptoms can also be caused by the mind’s way of dealing with conflict, so not everybody diagnosed with ADHD will have no improvement of their symptoms via therapy.

@ toofat – thank you for keeping involved in this thread. Your attitude and self-acceptance are what keeps me going right now. I very much want that for myself, though I have come to terms with the fact that I probably need more than just therapy for now, as I am heading into that nasty place of confronting and rehashing and digging at wounds I’d rather pretend weren’t there. The resultant escalation of “ADHDness” after only a short bout of therapy has convinced me that I cannot do this without pharmaceutical support. It is too dangerous, and impacts my whole ability to function. So I am all for multimodal treatment!

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