I would benefit from lifelong therapy

Hi there, I am also in a long term therapy about 7 or 8 years now. I have PTSD and complex prolonged bereavement and of course, Autism on to of that. There is nothing to be ashamed of regards therapy, instead it is a good reason to be proud of yourself for taking action and doing something to help yourself.

It is a myth that therapy always supposed to  be time limited and/or goal focused (it can be, but not for everyone). I don't think that a "typical" 10 session way is catering for autistic people way of being in the world. 

My first therapy experience was NHS 10 sessions. The therapist was great, yet for me it went something like this; First couple sessions I was trying to understand what ******* is going on, following sessions I spent between panicking that I have to be "healed" by the end of 10 weeks or I will be a failure, and masking and trying to act as I supposed people it therapy behave. The best thing that came out of it was that I understood that I need therapy. It took me good couple years to be able just to be raw me in my sessions. And fact that I now that I am not pressed for a time limit or goals , most definitely takes off the pressure.

I hope that you reported the therapist regards unethical behaviour and I don't think that there is any time limit how long after you can report it.

Sorry that reply is so long (if topic is so "close to home" I don't know how to stop.) x

Do you pay for your long term therapy?

Do you pay for your long term therapy?

Thank you for your response. Yes, I have tried various therapies and my 3 year one was £25 per session too, after going down from £45 to £35 to £25. My financial situation has worsened further which happened to coincide with it ending so I would not be able to do that let alone most therapists do not go that low and I was just very lucky.

I am getting 12 sessions of art therapy funded by a charity soon though and a followup of a 4 week group to help transition out of it which would really help. 

Yes with NHS therapy, I tended to not do very good with how short term it is and the constant threat of it ending. Only exception is psychosexual therapy which I currently have once a month and it is 6 sessions but it is very goal focused and not about my overall wellbeing and is about a health condition.

Thanks I am overwhelmed really with what happened. I went on reddit and they were all nasty to me. As in because my therapist ended it by calling me and then hanging up the phone when I started crying and I received no written confirmation or handover or anything and it has been really difficult to cope with as she has been my safe space and anchor for so long. It also coincided with a series of life changes such as graduation, house move etc so I had a really severe mental health crisis. 

I miss her a lot and I am torn about it all because I do believe that her personal circumstances drove her into this despite the unprofessionalism and understand her on a human level but I am also devastated that she did not want to end properly and she suddenly changed and it kind of hit further on the attachment wound I have even though she has also healed it significantly.

I am hoping that the charity therapy I have will help me and then I can transition out and use support groups. I used to attend a peer support group for my sexual trauma which really helped so I may go back as well as autism support groups. I guess there are different avenues of support and part of the plan I made for myself was also to engage in online platforms such as this. It has been scary working it out. Because I have been engaging in a lot of therapy and therapy with this therapist supported me to feel the internal safety, I can probably do it myself in the end but I do need some professional input.

It is difficult because when I am out of therapy, it is made clear to me by others that I am not well and need therapy. I am devastated though by what happened this time. I know some circumstances are unavoidable- I just wish things were communicated better and I am grieving. I have passed the worst of it though and it is now just like an empty void. July was when she suddenly paused after a series of ambiguous hints before (so I was already in crisis because of lack of clarity) and when I begged for clarity, it was ignored and a formal email saying she is pausing came and that followed all ethical guidelines but she didn't follow up like she said she would so I had to ask a few times and then it was a random phone call where she hung up on me. I know reddit people say I am the bad person but many people, after hearing the full story, tell me it is wrong what happened. Like the phone call should not have happened if I was to be hung up on and it would have helped to have something in writing and as this has been a long waiting period, I wish instead when she was aware something was happening and hinting, she gave me a closure session or something.

I do £25 per session, and it is literally a lifesaver, worth every penny