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Therapy - and dealing with the past

Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Jun 10, 2023 | Replies (33)
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@ricm58

I don't know any other site like this one. I've never before written about my experiences, and the replies here are very helpful and sincere.

Thank you! 🥰

My psychiatrist recently said something helpful. He started a sentence with "what you do to yourself..." and then he stopped and apologized, and said "No, I should have said 'what your neurosis does to you'...".

That is so important. It's not me hurting me, I'm not a sadist. It's a psychic problem/ illness that causes me grief. It feeds on things I think and feel, and it produces thoughts and feelings in me. So it feels like it is me. But it's a thing I carry, it isn't me.

That really helped me.

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Replies to "I don't know any other site like this one. I've never before written about my experiences,..."
Helen, Volunteer Mentor | @naturegirl5 | Jun 8, 2023

@ricm58 What your psychiatrist said and then re-stated about “what your neurosis does to you” I translate this way. You are not your neurosis (or anxiety, or depression, or ________ (fill in the blank). This isn’t your identity. You are you and you carry a big burden around with you. It’s like a backpack filled with stones. As you go through your life and find ways to manage your symptoms and live your life you toss another big stone out of the backpack. This allows you to create emotional distance: I’m taking this backpack along with me but I am not my backpack. My backpack gets lighter the more I allow myself to notice that it’s there and live my life.

Does this metaphor make sense to you?

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