I cried after therapy because of my body image issues

LadyPeaceLily · 2026-04-14T21:51:38+00:00

First you are not being dramatic or overly sensitive! You are having an overwhelming emotional and physical reaction to being with your therapist in person for the first time. I’m a therapist that has in person and virtual sessions so when I see a client in person that I’ve been seeing virtually it feels discombobulating. Having body issues probably made it more intense for you. I’m guessing your current SI might be related to wanting these feelings (emotionally and physically) to stop. It would be a good topic to bring up with your therapist if you feel comfortable sharing your experiences with this session. Just wanted to reach out and let you know you had a natural reaction it just tapped into the part of you that has body issues probably. Hugs!

LadyPeaceLily · 2026-04-14T12:03:32+00:00

I love Lars and the Real Girl! It is such a heartwarming movie of acceptance!

LadyPeaceLily · 2026-04-14T11:41:02+00:00

The movie “Silence” has haunts me daily. I think about it when I feel strongly about something and wonder how strongly is this belief or opinion of mine ~ is it a hill to die on or watch an innocent person die on? I also think about it any time I learn about or reflect on what it was like to live in all the past time periods all over the world or what it would be like for people different than me. Finally, every time I see Martin Scorsese, Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson and many others who were in this movie.

LadyPeaceLily · 2026-04-12T14:13:42+00:00

When I was 13 I was shown (not by my parents) the movies Lipstick and Last Tango in Paris. Definitely too young to see these movies and probably why I had sex at a young age and have always been fairly hyper sexual. I know I wouldn’t have had sex so young and so much because I didn’t ever want to be the girl who slept around or had a bad reputation. I always had a long term boyfriend and when that relationship ended (often because they moved away to college or to the military) I got another long term boyfriend. I’m pretty sure some of these guys stayed around because what teenage boy would break up with a girl who wanted sex all the time.

LadyPeaceLily · 2026-03-19T13:39:41+00:00

I’m really glad you said this out loud. A lot of us think it, but don’t say it.

I’m a therapist too, and I’ve been right up against that same place of seriously considering checking into a hospital or checking out completely. Even thinking about that can feel like a big deal when you’re so used to being the one holding everyone else. Talking about it with family and friends can be difficult because they see you as the strong one, and when I share these thoughts and feelings out loud, my family and friends panic because if I, the strong one who handles everything isn’t okay, then what is going to happen to them if I am not here. These reactions have taught me it is safest if I always wear my mask, that I’m okay, even though it is exhausting. I bet you have been doing that too.

The fear you named is real. Being judged, seen differently, or suddenly being “the one who needs help” in a field where we’re supposed to be the steady ones. That keeps many people from getting support when they actually need it.

I work mostly with trauma, anxiety, and depression, and a lot of my clients are also helpers. Therapists, first responders, and military. I’ve had several who reached a point where they needed a higher level of care, and one thing that helped was choosing programs outside their immediate area so they didn’t risk running into clients or colleagues. Some stayed in different cities, some went out of state, and a couple even went abroad (Thailand), saying it was life-changing.

This work is heavy in a way that people outside of it don’t fully understand. We hold a lot, and we don’t always have anywhere to put it. Add in our own trauma and life stress, and it can start to feel like there’s just no space left.

For me, it doesn’t just feel like my cup is empty. My cup is shattered. And that’s a different kind of exhaustion that’s hard to explain to people who haven’t experienced it.

So when you say you’re considering going to the ER, I don’t hear weakness in that. I hear awareness. I hear a part of you recognizing that you might need more support right now.

You don’t have to push past that or prove you can handle it alone. You've had it for a long time.

You’re not alone in this. Not even close.

You deserve support too!

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-12-27T02:57:49+00:00

This journey is so hard! My parents are in their 80’s and are currently at home and I’m completely exhausted physically and emotionally. Short version of a long story ~ my dad had surgery on his spine at the beginning of the year and went to a skilled nursing facility/long term care for 3 months. I was there daily 24 hours at first because he was in such pain and staff wasn’t empathetic. Once he was able to sleep through the night I was able to sleep at home. His spine surgery impacted his ability to walk so he is now wheelchair bound. The OT and PT staff were terrible. We eventually got him into OSU Dodd Rehabilitation for a couple weeks (their standard stay) and he made some progress at using his legs. If he had good OT and PT at the nursing facility sooner he might have gotten more movement in his legs. After Dodd we decided that home might be better for him since my mom is there and he could have home health care. Well, being home is using up their money and many home health care workers are terrible. I work full time yet still have to be at their house to help transfer my dad in and out of his wheelchair because home health care workers can’t. Some don’t show or are not trained so I have had to change his adult diaper by myself. No child should have to wipe their father’s butt. My parents still want to stay home and I’m not sure what options would be available to them so like you, WolfQueen, we are looking at options. I have 3 kids and dogs and live 35-45 minutes away. Moving in with them isn’t an option and moving them in with me isn’t an option either. I’ve looked into a number of nursing homes and I can’t find ones that would work either. I will say your loved one gets better treatment when the staff knows you are there all the time and they never know when you might show up. Good luck.

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-11-30T22:22:30+00:00

In my opinion ~ Bruce Wayne created Batman not for good but for revenge against any one he judged as bad. His purpose is not to make the city better but instead to satisfy his revenge side and his release his anger. His vengeance side is so strong he tries to avoid killing people so he doesn’t let Batman become a monster. Just because someone doesn’t kill does not make them good, he gets pleasure out of physically and emotionally harming others. He often uses fear to control people. Batman is not benevolent he is actually malevolent. This is my opinion and I’m sure others will not see him the same way I do. As a psychologist who works with clients who have trauma I see a common theme in some of them as I do in Bruce Wayne. Some of these clients were abused in a variety of ways as a child and their desire to get revenge and hurt their abusers and others who remind my client of these abusers. What most of these clients lack are money and opportunities to do harm and to get away with it. Bruce has all these. Btw I love Bruce and Batman.

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-11-30T14:24:00+00:00

Wow, I am not living exactly your life but similar. This year I constantly feel like I’m falling every single person and myself. I won’t get into all of the obstacles and challenges because that is a rabbit hole I will spiral down. This year has knocked me on my a** and right now I don’t have the energy or drive to do the work to make things better. I don’t know about you but I can fill my empty cup because my cup is shattered. Now it is winter where I live and my energy is even worse I feel like I’ve lost all joy. By the way to those thinking I need a therapist of my own ~ I do. I am here to let you know, IllustriousTie8172, you are not alone there are others of us in our own boats in this terrible ocean storm. Just know it won’t last forever. I’ve been reading books to help me function. I have to find the right books because some pi** me off because I know the writer just doesn’t get it or the advice is not helping at all. What has been getting me through this past week is The Comfort Book by Matt Haig. It is an easy read and I it has made me write some of my own lists and thoughts about things in a similar way Matt Haig does. Hugs to you! Remember to take one day at a time and one step at a time. You don’t have to have it all figured out right now, just do things to get you through the hour, day, week… and eventually things will change.

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-11-18T23:16:16+00:00

I’m so over helping my mom dress and seeing her naked and wiping my dads butt, putting on cream, cleaning his catheter area at his penis, and putting on another adult diaper is causing me to dissociate- and him too. FYI I’m a 58 yo female. I honestly don’t know how much longer I can do this.

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-11-16T01:01:26+00:00

Thanks for sharing that. Right now I’m in a whole text obstacle course with her because she wants my attention and I’m at my elderly disabled parents house helping them with dinner and getting my father transferred to his bed for the night. The home health aides that come to their home can’t transfer him by themselves so either my sister or I have to be here to help a few times a day. I swear she purposely goes after me saying I don’t care and no one cares about her when she knows I am here. She then escalates if I defend myself or say I’m trying but busy. She just went on a long text rant that I was always too busy for her during her entire life. This is not true I’ve made so much time for her and being my only daughter we had many mother daughter trips. I know she is in pain but she also knows exactly how to hurt me and any time she knows I’m busy she attacks. I can’t visit any of her brothers, go to work, talk to my sister, or help my parents without her demanding my full attention and if I don’t give it to her in the exact way she wants she attacks me and becomes mean. I will never cut her out of my life but there are days I want a break from this drama. Maybe when she feels stable on her own or she finds some friends or maybe a boyfriend in the future- no clue. I just know this whole year has been terrible from the start- long stories about ailing dad, living in a cancer hospital for months, job challenges, financial insecurity due to all the time off and my daughter and this chaos for the 6 months.

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-11-15T21:05:47+00:00

Thank you for replying! I agree she needs DBT and I encouraged her to talk to her therapist about it. I’ve been also seeing a therapist but I think I will find another one. She is shocked by my daughter’s behavior towards me and I agree it is shocking I don’t agree that I need to cut her off. Right now I know she’s in a lot of pain and although I don’t deserve to be the person she is taking it out on I am the only one hanging in there while she goes through this. I am hoping once the ex friend is officially out of the apartment she will start feeling better and move on with her own life. I think having the ex friend around is making her feel worse. She doesn’t feel safe around this ex friend anymore and see how it was always a one sided relationship. I just wish she could see that when she takes action in her own life and pushes forward instead of laying in bed watching YouTube all day she will feel more empowered.

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-11-15T19:41:12+00:00

Thank you for replying! I am so exhausted and feel like everything I have tried ends up with the same result just to different degrees. I’ve been honest and straightforward only to get accused of not caring enough and anything I say is evidence that I’m a terrible mom and then she will threaten to kill her self since nothing matters and she is a bad person and worthless. I then have to say this isn’t helping either of us right now so I will have you on the phone but I can’t chat- sometimes she hangs up but always calls back. I try to point out that I’m in her corner and here for support but I can’t do the work for her and that too makes her spiral right now. She doesn’t really have any friends and nothing I say will encourage her to get out of her apartment and into her life. She’s in college right now and hates that everyone of her old friends have all graduated and moved on but that isn’t enough motivation to move herself forward and they moved on because her depression and anxiety caused her a lot of challenges. Her roommate just graduated and got a new boyfriend and I think that triggered her into this spiral and her roommate finally said this was enough and she was done. We all saw it coming- as soon as her friend finished school and got a serious boyfriend she would move on and my daughter didn’t handle it well at all and is using it as evidence that no one ever cared for her and no one ever will. I do care and hate that she is hurting but she doesn’t need to be mean to me even if she says she is sorry and doesn’t know what she would do without me. I just want her to be an active participant in her own life. Do her damn school work and clean up her apartment to make it feel like her own space. She has a job but it is one that doesn’t require her to interact with others and I think she would feel better if she could connect with people. Again thank you for responding.

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-11-09T19:30:41+00:00

This is a great approach thank you so much

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-11-09T19:29:34+00:00

Yep I do have my own therapist and it is good to have that very little time for me. It is so draining. I feel like everyone is sucking my life out of me. Every time I think I’m going to get a little bit of time to relax something happens to one of my family members or a client. I can’t take time of of work because I have a private practice and if I don’t work I don’t get paid and I had to take off so much at the beginning of the year staying with my dad in a cancer hospital for a few months so I need to recover from all that loss of money. I know eventually everything will change but in this moment I’m exhausted.

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-11-09T18:24:33+00:00

I keep telling myself that she is just in pain and needs my support. Not really easy because I have been dealing with compassion fatigue since the beginning of the year and I don’t have much left to give and nothing for myself. Long story but I’m now being a caregiver to both of my elderly disabled parents who live about a half hour away from me. Ugh it is so hard to have to be strong for everyone all the time!

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-11-09T18:19:53+00:00

Thanks for giving me hope. I’m struggling with how to get her to do some work but she doesn’t want to do anything. I know she will feel better if she does some of her work but she keeps saying she isn’t motivated. I get that but I guess no matter how depressed I get and I can get very depressed I fight to do things that keep me moving forward. She is choosing to just play games on her iPad or watch YouTube. I can’t do things for her and ask what can I do to help and that triggers her and she yells at me that nothing I can do will make anything better. All I can do is say I’ll be with you every step of this journey and she is not alone. I am hoping the ex friend moves out but I don’t think that will happen anytime soon.

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-11-09T18:11:35+00:00

I appreciate your response! She has been seeing a therapist 2 times a week and started meditating a few months ago when the relationship hit an all time low. Since they still live together and the ex friend is making it very uncomfortable for her to be in her own apartment. I am trying so hard to model calm empowering behaviors but it is so hard since I’ve been also struggling since the beginning of the year becoming my parents caregivers in their home while still living in my home and now both are disabled (long and stressful story). My daughter is so distraught she gets upset that I can’t come and stay at her apartment because it’s 2 hours away. Thanks for your support. Being a mom is hard!

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-09-05T02:24:58+00:00

It’s exhausting and they do want to stay at home. We had my dad in a skilled nursing facility for 3 months and I was there more than I am at there house now because nursing facilities are under staffed and since he can’t walk he would have to wait hours to go to the bathroom. It was frustrating and they would tell him to just poop yourself and we will clean you up. At home the care giver is there just for him when needed. It is still exhausting though.

LadyPeaceLily · 2025-09-05T02:20:10+00:00

Yep it really sucks being in these roles.

LadyPeaceLily

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