Therapy Burnout: Can You Ever Talk Too Much About Feelings?
I grew up in a home where I was encouraged to discuss my problems to work through them. However, if I didn’t come to an immediate solution or if I stayed upset, it was frowned upon. In my parent’s eyes, everything had an easy solution. Perhaps you can relate.
I learned from a young age that saying “I am fine” was the past of least resistance to creating peace — not peace within myself, but peace within the home. I don’t harbor any ill feelings toward my parents over this. I appreciate it in some ways because they remind me to take a step back and see things from a new lens, and that can be immensely helpful at times. However, in my younger years, this approach wasn’t always so fantastic.
Cue hitting a rough patch in life: my parents were sympathetic and there for me, but it was the same message — things will be fine, so buck up!
At fourteen-years-old, I experienced my first encounter with depression and anxiety on a debilitating level. I remember hearing things like: “It’s not that bad” or “It is in the past, so it’s time to let it go…” And I listened and believed this. I remember that when my mother mentioned therapy to me at the behest of my guidance counselor at school. I told her I would be fine — that therapy wasn’t necessary. And we never spoke of it again.
