Can Anyone Relate - Having Trouble Trusting Therapist?

[BlueMoon_]

So I have been going to this trauma therapist for 8 sessions now. I know it's still in early phases, but sometimes I get feelings like I can't trust her methods or they won't help me. She has told me though that she would refer me if she thought she couldn't solve my issues this way.

Can anyone relate to trust issues and that feeling of hopelessness?

[NarcKiddo]

I've drip fed information to my therapist ever since I started with her, on the basis that I did not trust her (or maybe myself, too) to handle all the information. As the relationship has progressed I have revealed more as I felt comfortable to do so, and she has proved that she is helpful and can be trusted. There are still things I have not chosen to discuss with her, and may never choose to discuss with her although they are obvious things to take to a therapist.

My therapist has never promised to "solve" anything. (I don't expect her to be able to "cure" me and I am not entirely sure that CPTSD is ever fully "cured". I think it becomes manageable.) She will make suggestions on other ways I might think about things if I am struggling, and she will validate my feelings. If I ask her outright whether I should do or say a particular thing she will offer an opinion.

Sometimes I have felt that therapy is not really doing much but when I look back on how things were when I started I can see progress has been made. It's not linear and I can be surprised by a very bad reaction to an aspect I thought I had sorted out.

I think your feelings are normal but would suggest you consider raising them with your therapist to talk it through.

[Kizzie]

Hi BlueMoon    I think NarcKiddo has made some really good points. Abuse/neglect changes how we think and feel for obvious reasons and that's not easy to shift and certainly not overnight.  Many of us don't tell our therapists everything for a long while so you're certainly not alone.  That said, if your gut is telling you they are not quite who you need/want you certainly can make the choice to move on to someone else.

[Blue_Jays]

I can relate. When it comes to different approaches and therapies, I can be pretty negative and skeptical. I was very against inner child work a few years ago. I had soo many feelings there, that it was impossible for me to work through it in that way, or believe that it had a benefit. That changed over time. My current therapist has been good at not forcing it, and it is a lot easier for me to address those wounds.   

I think it is normal to doubt that these things will work. For me different approaches have worked overtime. I was pretty skeptical of Mindfulness, until it one day made so much sense.

It is a journey, for me it has worked similarly to what Narckiddo said "when I look back on how things were when I started I can see progress has been made". That can be small progress too. It can take time to trust the process, and the methods.