Client Insight: “3 Things That Surprised Me About Therapy”
We’ve got some more client insights for you! When it comes to working on your mental health in therapy many people have ideas about what it will be like based on what they see in movies and on TV… But it isn’t often like that at all! Therapy is personal and it can be challenging at times too. Often, clients are surprised by certain things that come up for them while working through traumatic experiences. Here are a few examples that hopefully you can relate to, or at the very least give you a more realistic idea of what others have been through.
My binge eating got worse before it got better.
This is incredibly common! Being honest and open in therapy means that you are working through some very strong emotions and reliving some parts of your trauma. If eating has been the way you’ve chosen to sooth or distract yourself from these feelings in the past, you will absolutely use emotional eating again as a tool. And that is ok! The more you can take pressure off yourself in your sessions by doing the work and being patient and gentle with yourself, you’ll find in the end emotional eating tends to lessen over time.
Grief isn’t linear.
This is a tough one. Many people believe that a few therapy sessions will see them fully work through their personal history and then they remain happy and perfect going forward. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way (and there is no such thing as prefect!). Life events will come up that will trigger an old feeling or even a new one. Imagine you lost your father at a young age; it is possible your wedding day may bring up grief. Or perhaps you’ve experienced a miscarriage before and are now a week away from a due date, you can’t predict how you might feel.
This is why we give lifetime access to our First Step Course, we know you’ll want to come back to the resources. But don’t think its hopeless! You do get stronger and become more aware of your triggers which allows you to better support your mental health and react in a healthier way when new things come up.
I stopped journaling.
You know we think journaling is a great way to reflect on your feelings and experiences, and it is a great tool to use alongside your work in therapy. It can help you remember ideas from a session and get more clarity around what was brought up for you. Plus, journaling is an amazing way to give your pain an exit from your mind and body—meaning you’ll be less tempted to stuff the feelings down with food. But if after a session or work on yourself you can’t face the blank page, that is ok! Again: working through your trauma can be emotionally exhausting and if you’ve just ‘relived’ it with a therapist or by doing an online course, facing it again by writing it out can be daunting. You can always try taking the pressure off yourself by writing simple bullets at a time if you want to have a record to come back to.
No matter how your feelings, patterns, and activities change as you go through finding your root cause of emotional eating, know that there is no right or wrong way. Everyone has their own path!
💛 Your peace awaits.
