Don't know anymore.

Sounds like you're feeling stuck in an endless loop of nothing changing or getting better @Atalanta?

Would it help to try and think of things that might be a tiny bit better or different now vs 6mths ago vs 1yr ago vs. <inset preferred time interval>? Or maybe think of times in the shorter term like last week was there something different vs this week?

Or perhaps prepare for your session by identifying some measures of progress you want to start tracking that are different to your usual sessions so (1) it's not the same old convo and (2) it might help with the stuck feeling?

Dear Atalanta,

Perhaps you have just got into a rut with this counsellor, going aoud and around in circles. It might be useful to ask for a review session, where you sit down and work out where you are coming from, where you are now, and why and in what ways you feel the counselling is not progressing.

What I do is keep a journal. Not a diary as such, just an exercise book where I write down ideas which come into my head and things I would like to discuss with my doctor. When I get to my session I show the doctor the journal and he picks up on points in it so that we can have meaningful discussion.

Pictures also work. You don't have to be an artist (I'm not!), but you can sit down with a piece of paper and some crayons and draw how you are feeling at the time. Sometimes it turns out a realistic scene, sometimes it is comething completely abstract. You unconsciously put all kinds of ideas and symbols into your picture, and these are things which your counsellor can look at and help you talk about.

If all else fails,if you feel you have had it with this cunsellor, then ask for a referral to another counsellor. It happens all the time, it is your choice who you see,. Wishing you the best,

Ellu