What therapy works best for you?

Couples counseling, somatic meditation hypnotherapy and TRE “trauma release therapy” are my top 3 most transformative types of therapy (NiFe). Also, consistency. I can’t go to one session and expect results I have to keep going for at least 6 months to a year.

Robert Augustus Masters, Peter Levine, Osho, Reggie Ray, Carolyn Myss, Dr John DeMartini, Tara Brach, Gabor Mate, Michael Brown to name a few

^+1 Kahawa - I have trouble trusting the methods and opinions of most counselors too. A good counselor simply leads you in your own introspective journey anyways, so I think if you have a natural inclination toward self-analysis, it makes sense to just go through the journey on your own. Saves a lot of money too

For me, analytical psychoanalysis (sub-personality characterization/dialogue, parsing of archetypes, dream analysis, active imagination, etc.) combined with schema therapy and vipassana meditation have worked best. I've also experimented a lot with natural supplements to counteract anxiety.

Things that make the complexity and heaviness of suffering beautiful.

Journaling has helped me immensely. I rarely write about my day in a linear sense. The narrative is rather abstract, poetic and probably confusingly dreamy to an outsider. It may also take on the form of a strict, theoretical systematization inspired by my daily observations. That might come off as impersonal or dissociative, but the clarity actually makes me feel more alive. Logic is pretty ~

I grew up with weak, confused authority figures – something which has added a certain point of attraction: I have had my fair share of brainless doctors, psychologists, teachers, personal trainers, and so forth. At the end of the day, I've had to make my own research. Through all this I have secretly desperately been longing for a mentor to take me under his/her wing. I've given up finding this paragon who doesn't make me feel misunderstood, abused, underrated – or simply painfully superior. I don't know if I'm actually a delicate but sage snowflake, or just narcissistic as fuck.

My mother is bipolar, traumatized and psychosomatically ill in so many ways. She raised me with the attitude of "pain is in our blood; you better just suppress it like I do". She pushed me into taking SSRI when I was depressed, sedatives when I couldn't sleep, CNS stimulants when I was tired or unmotivated...
Not surprisingly, I evolved the most when I outbraved my mother and her strategy, and instead gave space for the messy tears and dark thoughts.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and though I’ve previously been counselled by a professional and also studied psych in order to help others in a therapeutic way, I actually find that my most effective form of therapy is alone time (like an empty house, beach or forest), listening to music/dancing/singing, yoga/meditation, journaling, gardening/caring for animals, art (painting/fibre craft), laughing, reading and, more recently, chatting with good friends.

I think I tend to keep things to myself, and I’ve found that works best for me most of the time because I need the clarity of solitary thinking to work out a problem. I find that when I include others in this process, or allow people to “tell me what to do next,” I often regret it because I begin to consider the other person’s needs or ideas more than my own (although there are several exceptional instances where I feel this has worked well). However, I’ve also been told before that I could open up more to people and talk about personal things, so I am giving that a go, but with friends and family, not with a professional. So far so good I think, although I feel like I don’t know quite what to share or not socially sometimes, as I feel unable to understand this type of etiquette very well, and because I’ve been in the habit of internalising stuff. :/

The thing that seems to facilitate my growth the most is reading and sometimes through trying to articulate what I’m learning by what I’ve read (when I'm not wanting to throw something because I can't find the right words to express what I mean). In that process I find I’m challenged in difficult but incredibly valuable ways to me. And who doesn’t love books? Though, I’m not a huge fan of self-help books in general...but I learn a lot from many different genres, and I’m often pleasantly surprised when I try something new.

There are all sorts of people with all sorts of problems out there though. I wouldn't say that therapy is 'always' a waste of time.