Any experience of these psychological therapies?

Hi @Former-Member, how do you find psychodynamic therapy? What is involved?

Great topic of discussion @Mazarita Thanks for stating this thread. I'm intrigued to read the responses.

Hi @Former-Member, thanks so much for giving your inside perspective on psychodynamic therapy. It reminds me of a psychiatrist I went to decades ago who said barely a word for the whole session and just waited for me to say something, or not. At the first session I was crying within about two minutes of him just sitting there looking at me in silence. I never went back. I think it might be less difficult if I had known what to expect. I salute you for doing it as I found it very hard going.

I was drawn to the therapy when reading about it because of it being described as bringing the unconscious to the conscious. To me this means uncovering thoughts and emotions that we may have buried deep inside us and may not even be aware of in our everyday, conscious mind. I almost never cry these days, yet I know there is a lot of deep trouble in me about past experiences. There may well be buried memories, thoughts and emotions in me that could benefit from this or similar therapy.

As it happens, I have now decided to go with the therapist who does the Emotion Focussed Therapy. I'm guessing, with bipolar 1, I may be looking at a long road of psychological therapy. So it's great to have this knowledge of psychodynamic therapy now for future reference if I am again looking for a psychologist.

I'm still really intersted in anyone's knowledge or inside account of Emotion Focussed Therapy. So anyone else reading who may know something of this, please do post.

Psychiatrists are psychodynamically trained, it's part of their compulsory training program, whereas CBT dominates psychology training and it's rare to find a psychologist who is psychodynamically trained - if they are it's usually in the short forms of therapy, like interpersonal therapy. Psychodynamic therapy looks different depending on the practitioner, I have a psychiatrist who will extend a session if something comes up and he feels it needs it - once he was late because another patient had needed a longer session, another time he extended my session by half an hour. It is more based on the idea that issues will come up in conversation and in the therapeutic dyad.

Thanks for sharing your experience, @Haether. Interesting to hear that psychiatrists are psychodynamically trained. The conversational approach is what happens and has happened previously with psychiatrists I've seen, with some exceptions like the silent psychiatrist I mentioned. I feel I've been helped by just about every psychiatrist I've ever seen, in one way or another. I have seen mainly psychiatrists for over 25 years, sometimes seeing them less, sometimes more. One in particular probably saved my life. I am seeing the new psychologist at the suggestion of my current (2 years) psychiatrist that I do that. He didn't recommend anyone to me though so I've found this psychologist on my own. I am feeling good about it possibly helping me.

Hi @Mazarita

I'd be interested to hear about your experiences with EFT when you've had some time doing it.

I've been doing psychotherapy for nearly 2 years now. The first therapist, a psychiatrist, was a cold, old fashioned, in my eyes horrible man, who did extend his sessions, but pretty much shuffled me out of the room and never explained anything - just took lots of notes or looked like he'd fall asleep at times (perhaps he was in deep thought or listening closely?). Well I hated him. He advised me against seeing a psychologist. The sessions were too far spaced apart.

Eventually I got in with a great psychiatrist, who doesn't offer psychotherapy due to the intense commitment, but got me to see my current therapist, who I see weekly. I wouldn't recommend anyone to do psychotherapy unless they had tried CBT, ACT or a few other therapies. I find other therapies very triggering to the point of traumatising and have tried a few methods & psychologists.

The problem with psychotherapy? First I needed to find a therpaist that I clicked with. Then we spent and are still spending a lot of time on trust and abandonment issues between me and the therapist. It can take years, and I am by no way at the end of my therapy. It costs a lot of money, as between Medicare and a private health insurer, even at top cover, not all sessions are covered, nor are they bulk billed anyway. And the main issue is, that seeing progress is so hard, as the changes are very subtle and I have to be very patient - which I naturally am NOT. But for me it is worth it and I am starting to see changes. I've been told that the worst is yet to come. My therapist does extend sessions when required and doesn't stop me mid sentence. My therapist normally changes the subject before the end to give me time to adjust. Sometimes my therapist checks on my safety or asks to call someone for me, sometimes I have to be picked up after. My personal support persons know when I have therapy. I think between me, my therapist and my support persons, both personal and professional, we are now able to work through some stuff, but I can assure you, that I wouldn't be prepared to do it without having a support system in place. My therapist is always aware if there are support persons away.

Cut a long story short. I am glad I am doing psychotherapy - but I wouldn't recommend it as a first, second, third ... option. I am still trying to find quicker fixes, but guess I'll stick with the current process.

Hi @Former-Member, thanks for your reply.

I've been seeing psychiatrists for almost 30 years now. But have had less experience with psychologists and their approaches. I met with my new psychologist for the first time last week and am feeling very optimistic. I think the main reason for this is that I felt a good fit with her as a person, and liked her immediately. This has not always been the case in the past. I saw two psychologists in the past couple of years that I didn't connect with very well, and felt in some ways their treatment was a hinderance rather than a help.

I think whether we like these people or not, just that basic chemistry, matters a fair bit really. That's because we are opening ourselves so much to these people, we need to find someone we can trust pretty well. If we don't like them much, or don't like the way they interract with us, it's hard to do that.

I have already had experience of CBT and ACT with the earlier psychologists, by doing an online course and just generally coming into contact with some of the ideas previously. I probably have been more looking for that chemistry than any specific therapy. I am just interested in what experience others may have had of EFT, since my new psychologist lists that as part of her method. In practice, I think it will probably be hard to distinguish when she is using techniques from a specific therapy, as it is likely to all blend together in her own approach.

Luckily, both my psychiatrist and psychologist are bulk-billing me as I am on a pension. Having said that it is lucky, it is also partly because I set out to find people who would bulk-bill, as I simply can't afford it otherwise. I did this by googling the local area, following up links to their websites and ringing around to get as much additional information as I could. So far it's worked okay, with perhaps the exception of the two psychologists I saw last year and the year before.

Yes, it would be great if there were quicker fixes to mental health issues. I have bipolar 1 and see it as a chronic illness. What I seek in therapy are improvements to my life, prevention of decline, but not a cure, as I don't think there is one really. Patience is perhaps the biggest thing we learn on this journey. Patience with ourselves being perhaps one of the best things of all to learn.

Glad you are receiving solid support now from therapists and other people in your life. Kind wishes.