Exposure Therapy?

[shiva]

Is anyoneelse out there currently working on the Exposure Therapy that is provided on this site?


I am currently working on it with the help of my psychologist and I am finding myself really stuck, I am unable to go on to category 8. I am still experiencing anxiety with the last part of 7. I was just wondering who else is doing it and if anyone has any pointers for me. I am really beating myself up about this and I would really like to be able to progress further, but I don't know how.


I guess I should also add that I have been doing this for about 8 months and have only gotten this far. I can't help but wonder if I am totally frustrating the hell out of my therapist. I want to do better, I just don't know how.. I am so afraid to click on the next category.

[kel12347]

I"m doing exposure therapy, working on Sage's scale, but I'm only at the stick man vomiting. So it'll be a while until I get to pictures. My advice would be to keep going with category seven, over and over and over. And as for your therapist getting frustrated, first do you know if she even is? She shouldn't be. She should just be there to support you, no matter how long it takes.


Sage, advice?Edited by: kel12347

[crazy_me_84]

Hey Shiva! Well done for getting that far! Its tough the exposure. I've been through all the pictures on that site. Just keep going on category 7 until you feel 'relaxed'. Have a look at all the pictures in the other categories too before you look at category 7 again and work on it again. It does take ages, and it will take a while to overcome this. Keep going.


I know how you must feel frustrated for not being able to move on AT THE MOMENT, but when your body is ready, you will know, so try not to be too harsh on yourself and praise yourself for what you have achieved so far!


I did the pictures a few weeks ago but haven't done them since because I sank into a state of deep, deep depression and left it for a while. I'll probably consider doingit again as I'm crawling out of the deep hole I'm in.


Keep up the good work though. It'll all be worth it in the end!


xxx

[japa]

I bet that your therapist is not frustrated with you, but I would tell her that you are worried that she is, so then you two can talk about that.


Has s/he given you any suggestions about progressing to the next category?


I think that kel's advice about looking at cat. 7 again and again and again and again it probably a good idea.


Don't beat yourself up. You'll get past this plateau in the treatment if you persevere. Don't give up.

[japa]

I also just checked out the last picture in category 7 and the first picture in category 8. The color pic of the woman is labelled "Very Graphic," but honestly to me it seems about equal to the last in category seven. Have you been finding the color pictures much more disturbing than the black and white?

[shiva]

Japa,


Yes.. I do think the color pictures are more disturbing. At first I was feeling worse about the black and white for some reason. (like, in the photo's that had no vomiting, but just people about to)


I guess I am really disapointed in myself because I honestly didn't think that photo's were going to be this hard for me. You can look at them easily?

[japa]

Yeah, I guess it might go back and forth between which ones seem more disturbing. I would say though that the last cat. 7 and cat. 8 pictures are the same size if that helps.


I guess I'm not sure about how to explain my reactions to the pictures. I do think they are gross, but I can look at them and know that everything is o.k. with me. Hmmm... that just made me wonder what type of self talk you are doing while looking at the pictures. Maybe you can try to say to yourself that you are o.k. and you will be fine, and that everything is safe.

[shiva]

Yeah.. I do practice "positive self talk" while looking at the pictures. My therapist and I worked on my "relaxation response" and this was all a part of it. I think that perhaps I need to start back at base one and reinforce that whole part of it. I think the worst part for me is knowing that once I see that image it's going to burn it's image into my brain and never leave. I think of these images in my head over and over, at times when I am not up to handling it. My psychologist explained to me some techniques I can to do help with this as well. For instance, replacing this picture with another in my head, or changing the image once it tries to replay itself in my head. I think maybe I haven't been giving it my all. Maybe it's me who's frustrated with me. Thanks for trying to help me work this out, I really do want to get past this and know that I can handle things if I need to. For Christs sake, when you think about it logically, I cannot even understand how we do this to ourselves. I try to be a logical person. It just becomes extremely frustrating, you know?

[sage]

it sounds like you should be going slower through them. I recommend that you do not move on to the next picture until you are ABSOLUTELY BORED with the one before. I used to do one picture a week, and look at it over and over and over, and stare at it for like 20 minutes, and then imagine it was me, and so forth. Until I was SO CALM that I bored myself to death. I wanted to make sure that there was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about that picture that disturbed me, before moving to the next level.


This is how exposure therapy works best. And it's never too late to go back to the first one, and start again with this approach. That will stop the "burned in my brain" problem, btw. Nothing burns in your brain that's just plain boring and insignificant, only something you're still afraid of.


Good luck guys!

[shiva]

That really makes a lot of sense. Right now I cannot even imagine these images boring me. Guess I'm really needing to slow it down. Thanks for the advice.