On-line therapy experience anyone ? And some sharing/venting

[worriedboy]

Hello nice people,

I am writing this with tears in my eyes. I am very sad and I dont know what came first but my health is not at best right now. Somehow all issues come at once, it's always like this; but this is a story for another thread, maybe.

In the last couple of years I built some mental immunity. Life taught me how to siege in my self and get life going side by side with Crohns maintanance. Blood works, colonoscopies, doctors, all came a part of a routine that I accepted to be a part of life.
Somehow I was blessed with few good months of relatively good health, and this allowed me to focus on other things; however now, when I have to get back into "the mode" as I call it, I find that the shields got softer and that the self control I was working on so hard melted away.
I always used to think that once you got those behavioural tools, they become a part of you. Apperantly either this is not quite true, or I was not doing it right.

Being practical, I now have to grab myself and gain my courage and self beliefe again... I feel very sad and in a way lonely (even though not alone in the world).

I was thinking on going to a threapist, something like CBT, a short session of few meeting, even if only to talk to someoneabout my feelings openly enough.

This brings me to my question - have any of you tried on-line therapy ?
I find that it could be comfortable in hours, inexpensive, etc. True it is not a face to face, so what ?

So please share with me, you experience.
Any other responses I'd appreciate as well, obviously.

Yours,

Worriedboy

 

[Jennifer]

Someone mentioned http://www.7cups.com/ a while back on the forum. I haven't tried it out myself though. They aren't psychologists so I'm not too sure if it's ideal, maybe something to try while you see a licensed psychologist or something to hold you over until you can see one maybe it could help.

I've been going through a lot myself at home and have been having crying spells everyday for almost a week now so I'm going to see a psychologist again soon once I get it all set up. I've seen a few in the past for anxiety and they do give you a lot of tools that are extremely helpful and do help but once you stop seeing the therapist, for me at least, things start to go back to the way they were before. I think therapy is something that I need to stick with even if the visits are spread apart as opposed to weekly or even monthly. For me forcing myself to talk about what's going on in a therapy session helps me more than trying to handle it on my own using the tools they provided because our lives are constantly changing or maybe they haven't gotten better yet when things should have changed by now, maybe we need different tools to handle what's going on now. A licensed therapist can provide more suggestions and a different way of thinking about things then someone who is less experienced and gives generic replies like, "how does that make you feel?" or "I'm so sorry, what about (insert suggestion here that clearly wasn't thought out and shows that they were never listening to you in the first place)?"

I told one of my friends about what I've been going through and she suggested trying out online therapy but I'm not sure if she knows of any specific sites. CrohnsChicago did you know of any particular sites?

I'm sorry you're going through this worriedboy. We're all still here for you and can talk anytime. :ghug:

 

[worriedboy]

Thank you Jennifer, for your reply.
Your input regarding the on line therapy sorts of match my intuition of how it is going to be; it is very tempting to think though, that you can save the traffic, time, money and sitting at the waiting room.

It's interesting to see that in a way you, like me, feel that the tools and behavioural conditioning you learn, do not stick with you forever and has to be regained from time to time.

I am trying the forum chat from time to time but mostly, it is empty; I believe that the connections we have are the true gift of life. However, I cannot share my issues with most of the people around me. Sad it was, but I learned this is the way it works and I accept it that people live "their own lives".
I do have one friend who is much more open minded and I feel very comfortable with; but he is a family man, thus we do not meet very often. He is one of those rare decent guys you meet only every now and then.

 

[Jennifer]

I check the live chat whenever I'm on the forum but I do tend to not post in it if I don't see anyone chatting. Imagine the number of people who go to the chat and see no one talking so they move on thinking there's no one there when really there's a bunch of people staring at their computer screen thinking the same thing. Sometimes I forget to post in it when I'm on the forum and post when I've left for the night.

 

[CrohnsChicago]

Hey there, worriedboy.

I'm very sorry to hear that you are in a situation where your health has slipped and is causing you to struggle mentally/emotionally. But I also would like to applaud you on your level of self-awareness and initiative to seek support and look at a variety of options.

I personally don't have experience in online therapy but I have also heard of 7 cups of tea and they seem to be a decent service. Here's a link I found online that might be helpful to you as you seek out support. They mention 7 cups and a site called Blah Therapy as helpful: http://lifehacker.com/how-to-find-s...tm_expid=66866090-67.e9PWeE2DSnKObFD7vNEoqg.2

I'd also suggest looking into life coaching outside of therapy. As a life coach in training myself I can tell you that many life coaches out there offer complementary sessions and may even consider working with a potential client at a discounted rate depending on the needs of the client and the coach's availability. Plus life coaching is often done over the phone or via Skype which makes it a convenient option. Based on how you express your struggle you seem like someone that might benefit from that kind of support as well since it's more about helping people in a place where they are self-aware like yourself and ready to learn to find the balance, strength and courage to overcome limiting beliefs and outer blocks to keep you moving forward rather than placing major focus on healing your past. Majority of coaches keep websites so you can easily google them.

I personally have done CBT and life coaching and found them incredibly transformational in my personal journey with crohn's, anxiety and dealing with life in general. Chat rooms are awesome as well if you can find a good group. At one point the group here was incredibly active. it just depends on how available people are at a given time. The chat room here gets busy from time to time you just have to keep an eye out for the prime time that folks are posting.

wishing you all the best on your journey and please keep us posted if you would like about your progress or struggles. :hug:

 

[worriedboy]

Thank you so much CrohnsChicago, for your eye opening post.
Are you looking for someone to practice on ?? :ytongue:

I am taking few days off from work, get things going, re-organize...

 

[CrohnsChicago]

worriedboy you are welcome, I hope you are able to find what works best for you.

Feel free to private message me anytime.