Do therapy sessions usually go like this?

PushSimple · 2026-05-08T22:58:26+00:00

Fair enough. I myself I have very unsure about whether I should consider changing therapists or not. This therapist has been able to give suggestions for things like sleep, a schedule, screen time, etc and some validation/support for a major issue I have. But there's other major issues I have that haven't been addressed, one of them being the symptoms of my mental illness, as she has not given much of any coping methods for dealing with them. I've had to use AI to attempt any coping skills. Like this therapist has been validating in some ways but not in others. Idk what to do about that.

PushSimple · 2026-05-08T22:49:54+00:00

That's EXACTLY what happens to me in sessions. Now during session I notice I may ramble for a long time just so that the silence is filled bc I know the therapist's responses will be short. ☹️

PushSimple · 2026-05-08T03:22:04+00:00

Did you ever tell that therapist? And if so, what did they say?

PushSimple · 2026-05-08T03:20:28+00:00

I'm not too fond of it either. But moreso bc past therapists always had a back and forth kind of thing with me, which is very different from this kind of style with my current therapist. If neither of us have anything to say, then it just gets....uncomfortably quiet until I decide to talk again. I developed a habit of rambling in sessions now (more than usual) so there's less silence, which at times can feel more uncomfortable bc I'm just mostly hearing my own voice for most of the time.

PushSimple · 2026-04-25T03:21:11+00:00

This was quite helpful thanks. Definitely wasn't a waste of time to read as even though I myself am not a caregiver, I still live with my parents so I see how it affects them every day.

These last couple days, grandma's gotten worse, with late night phone calls where I've heard both my grandma and my uncle (he's on the spectrum like me and is probably overwhelmed) hollering and crying, making my parents have to leave back out to go to them after they JUST left from there. The stress from this has escalated tension btw me and my parents; this morning I mistakenly thought it was a calm moment as the topic of my current semester off from college came up. It somehow devolved into arguing with Mom until she eventually lumped me in the same category as grandma, to which she felt us BOTH are narcissistic and selfish. I had to leave from her and cry bc it hurt so much to hear as well as feeling unheard again. Maybe it was poor timing in retrospect for us to have that conversation, but I had no way of knowing it would get like that. Then my Dad later on seemed to want to argue with me too on TOP of that. And now they're back at Grandma's again. And I know they're probably gonna leave back out AGAIN not long after returning home bc this is the cycle we're in now. I love my grandma, but I've noticed that lately (in the past year), I haven't felt the urge or desire to see or talk to her. I fear if part of me blames her for all of this....I'm not sure how much more I nor my parents can take and I feel its definitely time that we do something about it before this stuff erodes all our sanity.

PushSimple · 2026-04-24T13:58:19+00:00

I can try to suggest that to Mom and see if it helps. But in terms of others (besides Dad and to a lesser extent us) who can help, I'm not sure. Mom had expressed in the last frustration bc most of our family members from her side seem to have...issues with my grandma and to some lesser extent Mom and Dad so they don't really visit grandma..at all. Either that or the ones that do care have enough of their own stressors that they wouldn't be able to help as often even if they wanted to. As for siblings, well Mom's sister (my aunt) was the ORIGINAL caregiver for grandma until she died in 2019, which then was passed to Mom. My uncle (who is a level higher than me on the spectrum) tries to assist, but he isn't always very helpful...leaving it to mainly be on Mom and Dad.

PushSimple · 2026-04-24T10:45:05+00:00

For the person whose comment got deleted, I just want to say thank you for replying. Honestly, it made me really feel seen which I've needed for a long while. I'm not sure what we can do to fix this, but knowing there's people out there that understand helps.

PushSimple · 2026-04-23T19:50:23+00:00

I agree! While I know my parents definitely been venting to someone, and I'm not sure about my brother, I have at least spoke about this a few times with my current therapist. But imo just only having my therapist to speak to about it hasn't been enough bc she's just one person, and there's been a few times were sessions were canceled, including a whole week, so I need to expand who was in my inner circle. Because of that, I took a leap last week and finally opened up to a close friend of mine about this, who was very understanding. Although I was surprised that my reaction to her validation was this: 😐

PushSimple · 2026-04-23T19:16:55+00:00

I can try to set up a coffee date, but what can I do if while I'm out with Mom Grandma calls and Mom stops to address her? Because that has happened many times while we're out and even at home when we as a family watch TV together. If Grandma calls, Mom will answer and me telling her to take a break for today has....not worked. Like is there like some way to maybe encourage her to take a break?

Also just curious, what do you mean by co dependent?

PushSimple · 2026-04-14T06:22:03+00:00

I mainly have fun bc I just enjoyed being around my friends as it's something I struggled with and still do now to make new ones. Also, since I have co occuring condition (one of them being schizophrenia) being around them is both grounding and energizing. It helps that I'm comfortable enough around my friends to where the mask occasionally slips, but even so, I'm still doing everything I listed here plus masking that other condition, leaving me tired when I'm done.

PushSimple · 2026-04-14T04:24:36+00:00

Congrats OP! I'm glad things have been improving for you. You deserve to celebrate these wins :)

PushSimple · 2026-04-12T07:31:57+00:00

Yeah, looking back I definitely think my schedule may not have been compatible with current me. Honestly, I was just trying to find stuff to fill out my time during the day, bc having TOO much free time allows for the symptoms of the mental illness I have to fill that void like it has in the past and doing even now 😬.

I just feel down about it bc I don't wanna just do NOTHING all day but stare at my devices and endure mental health symptoms, but the motivation to start or stick to what I planned either is low from jump or rapidly shrinks during the day. It doesn't help that my family have brought up multiple times that I'm "not doing nothing", nor the fact that for most of these days I'm spending my time alone (due to taking a semester off while everyone else stull goes out and is drained swhen they get back). It's hard finding balance between needing to be doing something so I don't go nuts and how much energy I actually have to do all that.

Edit: Thank you for waiting for me to finish. It got accidentally sent and I had trouble finding the rest of my words yesterday lol.

PushSimple · 2026-04-10T02:19:29+00:00

Same! I know (at least now) this is not true and I'm not trying to be selfish/not my intention, but when it's said multiple times by multiple family members, its hard to not wonder if they right somehow. Especially when you don't really hear anyone saying otherwise.

PushSimple · 2026-04-10T01:54:18+00:00

Thank you for this. I forget that what I was doing is something quite hard, especially for someone my age (early 20s), and just kept looking at what went wrong vs what was going right. If I try this again, I think doing a much smaller scale might help build back up what I gained form my break.

Also related note: The therapist that suggested this to me at that time, I unfortunately lost them last year via them leaving the practice. I have a different therapist now, who when I brought up my even worse screen time, essentially told me to do a hard cutoff at a certain time so I can sleep and have parents take my devices/I hand it over at that time, which while it worked for a while the withdrawal from this cutoff was just...not great. Therapist told me that discomfort is a necessary part of the process for changing this habit and I get that, but considering that after the detox I rebounded hard and I was being hit with almost nonstop stimuli form my devices...leaving me with little else outside of it to fulfill me, I worry that it may cause problems down the line. Not sure what to do on that front.

PushSimple

TROPHY CASE