The image on the left is from the website, Therapy Tales, a hilarious comic strip blog about therapy. In this particular comic, the therapist is merely repeating what the client says. Fortunately, most of my interactions with various therapists haven’t been like this, but I have had a few. When it has happened, I asked myself, “How is this helpful?” It was frustrating not to receive much feedback. The most frustrating circumstance was with a professional who just nodded and mumbled “Hhmm…” a lot. It wasn’t helpful at all. Yet sometimes those struggling with eating disorders have no idea how to communicate back, either, at least about personal feelings.
During interpersonal therapy group sessions in IOP, the hour always started with a check-in. We had to express how we were doing and what we were feeling. While the question, “How are you feeling?” seems easy to answer, it is not easy for any one who is used to stuffing emotions and not speaking about feelings. The easy answer was, “I’m fine.” It got to the point where so many of us said, “I’m fine.” that a new rule was created: No “I’m Fine”‘s Allowed! Or any variation of it (“I’m okay.” “I’m alright.”). With the rule in place, we were required to say how we were really feeling, whether it was good, bad, or indifferent. Sometimes, it took a while to be able to pinpoint a specific feeling. Continue reading