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Feeling better and then getting worse again - losing hope

User Profile: givemecoffee
givemecoffee June 17th, 2017

I was getting better. And that's what upsets me, that I was getting better, making so many progresses and slowly then suddenly - it's gone. I feel I've gone so many steps behind. Probably it's not meant for me to be "happy" or "emotionally stable".

In January my therapist was so happy, I had a terrible Holiday season and when we had our first session after New Year's, she said honestly how proud she was of me, over how I handled things well despite what had happened with family and triggers and everything else. I was proud of myself, also. That gave me motivation to start studying more, and have more goals and believe in myself. Had some bad days, but not terribly bad. I would say my emotions were almost on a 'normal person' level, so they weren't intense, I was able to say "okay, I'm sad over what happened now, so I'm going to take a break and do something nice" or "I am angry because of this and that, so being alone for some minutes and deep breaths, will help"

And then, a triggering time of the year for me came. I was handling it well. I mean, I went to one session in therapy and said "I'm a bit surprised at how I'm managing all triggers so well, no urges to self-harm, no crying sessions, no nightmares. I'm okay, considering all" and left happy. Honestly, looking back, it's probably my own fault.

Because maybe two or so weeks after that, I had my first intense mood swing in many many months. I think I even wrote a post here about it, but moving on - once I "felt better" from it (next morning, after a night of switching back and forth, and ending with numbness) I just thought "I'm good, that happened but won't happen again". But did, some days after. And my rage came back, I slowly lost control of it. I mean, I had fought so hard to manage my anger, and now 100 steps back. And last but not least, breakdowns every couple days. This month has been every 2 or 3 days, usually middle afternoon or night, if not more.

Last night I was in my room, having an ugly cry and I could hear my parents laughing in the living room, to some comedy movie. And after I cried, I starred at my wall just thinking "not again, not this again, this is exhausting, I want an end" and turned off my light and went to sleep, aka tried.

I'm trying to tell this to my therapist, I am. But seems like my mind isn't allowing me to 'remember' it or even mention it. If I say how struggling I am, will she assume I'm a danger to myself (which I'm not) and make me inpatient? Because if I even notice she does it, that's it - all my trust in her is lost. If she even picks up the phone mentioned "inpatient treatment", I'm out that door as fast as speed of light. Even if I have to kick some nurses out of the way. And I'm not a violent person, I avoid conflict - well, unless I explode of rage, but that's because I avoid conflict so much, that it builds up to an extreme.

When a therapy session begins, she starts of saying "How are you feeling today" and I just sit in silence. That's such a hard question, considering days before therapy I'm usually 'emotionally balanced' but anxious, so I rely on my mood tracker apps to know how I was feeling those days. So usually I say "so and so". The first 5 minutes of every session is my therapist making me comfortable enough to share and once I do - I don't shut up. So embarassing.

I just guess I'm afraid to admit my progess is gone, or that I am back at where I was.. I don't know.. A year/year and half ago? A year ago is when things slowly got better, before that things were difficult for some times. So yeah, year and half progress - gone, I guess. Oh well

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User Profile: aquaBalloon1299
aquaBalloon1299 June 17th, 2017

I am sorry.

User Profile: AffyAvo
AffyAvo June 17th, 2017

Reading this, I wish I could reach out and give you a hug if it's something you would like!

While there are differences with physical and mental illnesses, I can relate to what you're saying on a certain level. I have good and bad days, and good weeks/months and bad (heck even years when I look over my lifetime). Even though it's not a mood disorder, when I'm physically feeling poorly, it's really easy for that to tank my mood down. When it's short term, I can brush it off, but when it's longer it can really be hard to get back into a positive mindset. For a mood disorder (sorry if this isn't the correct term, hopefully this makes sense even if it's off) I could see this being even more challenging to deal with, as your mood drops directly from it being a bad time, then you get more upset because you're not doing as well as you used to and it cycles.

The good news is that all progress is not lost. Yes, this is a setback. The thing with progress though is that there's more to it than just the results. There's the experience you have gained before, there's the pracitce you have had with doing the 'right' things. Your skills are stronger than they were in the past. So even if your results are back to where you were a year ago, getting yourself back up isn't going to take the same level of learning and practice as before.

As for the therapy, as an outsider I can't say for sure what your therapist's response would be, I don't know your specific situation and the criteria used to go to inpatient. It sounds like you have a pretty good therapist though. With almost everything setbacks are expected to happen. I think getting that help to switch around to working your way 'up' instead of cycling down can really be beneficial, and it might prevent things from getting to the point where inpatient is really needed.

I wish you well!