Our current therapist made a comment recently that made my heart sink. They said they thought we’re likely to need, at least, some supportive counselling for the rest of our lives.
The body is in it’s early thirties. If we make it to even eighty, that’s another fifty or so years of therapy. Maybe not weekly like now, but perhaps monthly.
Our current therapist will also be retiring in the near future. We’re trying not to worry too much about that, and trying to focus on getting as much DID focussed work done as possible in the time we have left.
That’s one of the hardest parts about having DID. Finding a therapist who has enough knowledge and experience to actually be helpful to us. In the last eight years we’ve just been lucky to come across therapists who are excellent at working with trauma and dissociation.
We’ve recently spent several weeks in hospital. None of us regret the admission. We got a lot of work done, and nearly all of us were able to talk to our therapist. No easy feat when there’s eighteen of us!
Our therapist is confident that we’ll have the majority of our trauma and DID based work done before they retire. I’m not sure how realistic that is. As much as ongoing therapy (for the rest of my life) makes my heart sink, I also can’t imagine our life without regular therapy or hospital admissions.
Does therapy ever end when you’ve experienced chronic childhood trauma?
Life as a Committee 
I don’t know the answer to that question, but I’ve been told the same, that I’ll likely need some form of therapy for the rest of my life. I had the same heart-sinking reaction. I am determined to not need it forever. I believe we can heal to the point of not needing therapy. It might be that I will want it, but it won’t be a need in the way it is just now.
I kind of want to counter your question by asking if therapy ever ends for anyone ever. This may be some form of privilege talking, but I think of therapy as something most everyone needs, at least in maintenance. I expect therapy to be a part of my life, albeit off and on, forever. Reading your article, I was thinking, well sure, this is normal and fine, and feeling surprised that you had negative feelings about it.
Is it because it’s painful, costly, or stigmatized? Does it feel like a failure in some way? Just wondering if there’s something unexamined that could be causing you to feel surprised or upset that you’ll need to stay in therapy.
I suppose my core intent here is to express that it’s okay to need therapy for life. I don’t want to be dismissive of your feelings about it, though.
Just some thoughts. If I’m off-base or this is unwanted, feel free to disregard! ❤
It is partly because of cost. That element of therapy is painful because I’m on a very low income.
I think I’d somehow imagined not needing therapy one day. Although I have always thought that most people need therapy at some point in their life, and that’s definitely not a bad thing.
You’ve definitely given me something to think about, thanks. 🙂
I’m not sure tbh, I’ve been told that is need years of therapy minumum if not for rest of my life, am I willing to spend the rest of my life going to therapy? In theory yes. But I’m scared to do so as week, I’m not a talker so it’s hard for me.
I agree that talking is hard. 13+ years of therapy and I still struggle to talk. Mostly I write in my journal, write a summary from the week, and take that to therapy. It makes it easier than sitting there in an awkward, anxious silence.
I like that idea, my partner and I do journal entries nightly and swap them over and discuss it. I think I might show said entries to my psychologist.
I’ve been told the same thing. I’m also in my 30’s. Its jarring to hear that isn’t it? I don’t think it ever ends, unfortunately. xx