Lisa,

As you pointed out, you don’t see much value with your current therapist because she does not offer input and just lets you unload.  You also speculated that expressing your feelings may help in the short run but may not in the long term.

I second Anita’s suggestion on finding someone else that is more affordable.

Google Therapy For Every Budget or affordable therapy to find options.

Mark

You are welcome, Lisa. No time requirement for you posting here, as far as I am concerned, no apology needed. I hope you are well.

anita

Dear Lisa:

Well done on your eating habits. I hope you continue.

Maladaptive daydreaming is a recently coined term, I think. But I am familiar with the experience as I daydreamed all day long for years, mostly as a teenager. I had a story in my head that kept going and going and going, an alternative life, removed from what was the here-and-now for me.

I think that later on reading books took the place of that daydreaming, sinking into the (non fiction, mostly) story I read, disappearing for hours from my here-and-now life.

In fantasy, or in someone else’s story, lots of things happen and we don’t have to wait through boring times. If we want love (and I did), there were ongoing love stories I involved myself in, all fantasy. Things happened quickly, and I felt them, I felt the things that… weren’t really happening. I have a smile on my face as I remember.

anita

Dear Lisa:

Welcome back! I thought about you recently, and here you are, glad you are back.

We adults keep re-experiencing our childhoods way into old age. Unless we learn and become aware of what really happened during those early years of our lives and look at our current lives with wide open eyes, seeing things we didn’t see before.

Our lives as is, as adults, is like a picture. When we keep living our childhoods, it is like we only see a corner of the picture of your current lives. Becoming aware and learning, is like expanding our view so we can see beyond that one corner of the picture.

Do post again anytime, Lisa. You don’t have to be positive. Be you. Being you is good enough!

anita

Dear Lisa:

We communicated on and off since May 2017. You were always gracious in your two threads with every member who answered you: you addressed each member by name, thanked them for their input, expressed empathy to members who expressed their pain to you, and wished them well.

When you shared about your past, you expressed yourself well, sometimes writing like a poet, expressing yourself in a unique, creative way. There are sentences you wrote that I still remember, like you being an artist that doesn’t draw, a writer who doesn’t write (this is probably not your exact words).

In your post yesterday, you wrote: “People only talk to me when no one else is around”, suggesting that they are ashamed to be seen talking to you, if I understand correctly.

Why do you think people are ashamed to be seen talking to you, is it something about the way you look or the way you behave?

anita