Posted by DAisym on September 6, 2007, at 12:54:07
In reply to Something about the day after therapy...., posted by JoniS on September 6, 2007, at 12:14:19
There are stages of separation anxiety -- the first one being protest. Wanting to reconnect right away is a form of protest.
The next stage is an anxious acceptance - listing and relisting all the reasons someone will or won't return. Self-soothing is utilized here, coping in healthy and unhealthy ways.
The third and last stage is depression and defeat. This happens when you have to wait too long and you lose hope of reconnecting. Anger might be a big part of this, although anger usually signifies there is some hope left.
I think when we are adults, we rapid cycle through these stages, even as we "talk" to ourselves about what the reality of the situation is. But reality has no bearing on psychological time so some of those minutes seem really, really, really long.
My son calls it "therapy hangover." I think he is right.
I hope you get an email back soon. And it doesn't seem to me that this was something unnecessary (is there such a thing?) to send. It was full disclosure of your feelings right now. It was sweet. I wish we all lived closer so we could have more of an IRL response team for times like this.
Take care,
Daisy
poster:DAisym
thread:781156
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20070904/msgs/781166.html