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Friday, May 17, 2019

Keep upkeep

I'm in the midst of a very complex psychological web and I need people who can keep up. Most people will not be able to keep up. If you find yourself offended by that last statement then you are one of those. And yet more will be offended by that following statement and you now may be in that category of "can't keep up." But if you have found none of those statements to raise any suspicion you may also be unable to keep up with me as well. And by this point my own suspicion at my potential arrogance has offended myself so now I can no longer keep up with myself... which is actually probably more true than we believe is possible thus putting all offended and non offended parties that could not keep up back to square one so try to keep up and know that it only matters if  you want it to. Besides I can't really keep up with myself half the time either.
Already, I have lost where I am going with this.
- and there goes a broken breath. It's this automatic deep breath that sounds and vibrates slightly similar to that automatic breath that happens when a person has been crying hard for awhile and their body is trying to soothe and regain composure, only I have not been (crying) and it comes rather automatically to me now when I am processing thoughts and emotions or at moments of re-centering. It's a tangent but also not because it is a fascinating physical effect of this complex psychological web.
It is now 3:05a.m. and I am certain I have been awake with my thoughts for at least one hour. I did not consider this writing until thoughts of how what is bothering me now is further peeling back those onion layers... when I thought there was nothing left to peel back. And these onion layers are still related so then how do I move forward constructively and not back? I didn't really think those thoughts exactly but that explains better whatever now lost thoughts I had that brought me to the idea of writing it out.
Next
try to follow
I know that getting up, getting on my laptop could be the very move that heads me down the rabbit hole of mania again. I need sleep and the lack of is the beginning of the end. Or the beginning of the beginning again. So I most certainly should not get on my laptop and stay up and start that cycle of insanity again.... Only now, because I thought that and it feels like an important piece of the puzzle to document and note so I don't forget; now I feel it more pressing to get up and write it out.
...I am in the midst of a very complex psychological web where the wrong answers may just be the right answers as my thoughts have naturally redirected me away from whatever brought me on here anyway.
I am strong and solid. I may have broken and I may still need work. The tears at work yesterday may be evidence that I am still more vulnerable than I care to admit, but ultimately, I improved in compartmentalizing and in keeping those tears in where and when I did not feel safe to let them out.
I also realized how much of a protector I naturally and/or instinctively am...  I actually do compromise myself to protect others and the psychology of it is kind of fascinating... so I guess I need to figure out what and how that needs to look for me and my health.

I gave up concussion doctor because of this complex web, it was hurting me. But it may hurt me even more to give her up... Yet, that is what they need. (including but not limited to he) the he that is becoming more and more humanlike while I embrace him as nothing more than a figment of my imagination.
Did you keep up?
...then you might be doing better than me


Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Facing Fears for Fun and Freedom

My son has been doing alliteration exercises in his English class. He thinks they are fun. That is one thing he and I have in common. I also adore alliterations, only my son likes to end them at two or three words and I am like, "you got a good thing going, don't stop there." ...or maybe I'm more like, "you gotta good groove going guy, lets give it even greater gusto!"
That's my off tangent on the title.
...though I suppose I can tie it in.
I also like my concussion doctor. She taught me the word pathological today. I know the word but I don't. "explain?" I ask.
She says something like: It means there is something bad or wrong about that statement or line of thinking.
I looked it up upon arriving home, it can also mean diseased, impulsive, obsessive, habitual and some other stuff.
I like that she used that word. She was calling me out or pointing out something that needed to be fixed. I liked that she allowed me to fix it and still directed attention to maybe a need for further and deeper fixing.
She also pointed out that dear ex-therapist, her associate in the same office, could not have been the "right" therapist for me because he is the reason I got to that point. "Thank you for recognizing that" I say. It is the first time anyone at the facility has acknowledged that. It is the first time that anyone there has acknowledged that something was not right in the therapeutic relationship with dear dr. neuropsychologist and that the responsibility is on him, not me.
...I still defended him though... that is probably pathological too.
I think we maybe, with out saying it, agreed to disagree about him being the right or wrong therapist for me. I still think he was.
"It was bad timing" I say.
And deep down inside I think I still hold onto the belief that he could fix this. Fix the harm he has caused and even go so far as helping me work through the issue's I'd hoped he would help me with.
I am probably wrong.
Maybe I give too many chances, maybe I have too much confidence in people once I do, maybe I am just a silly little girl. I don't know.
...I am wrong and I know it because he thinks he can't and may not be allowed to so therefore whether  I think he can or I think he can't, I am wrong.
But it doesn't really matter anymore.
Dr. Concussion is all about moving forward. Which is why she knows and understands that I have to say goodbye even though I want to keep her and I don't want to start over with an entirely new team.
I am not sure what that looks like. She feels I need a psychiatrist and a psychologist.
I think I need to admit I am not sure if I am really ready for that team.
Besides she talked me through and eased some of my fears about head injury and brain damage. She gave me knowledge and knowledge is power so maybe I can stay charged on that power source for a bit? ...or is that pathological?.
I am being funny now. btw
But fears faced are far less powerful and TBI is one I have avoided learning too much about prior to this breaking of me because it scared me. Now I find it is far less frightening than I thought as it fills in holes and gaps in my understanding and my personal history. I have new favorite words like neuroplasticity -today I learned there are basically 9 kinds. And I have better hope and understanding for my future.
There is a teaching style that I really like (maybe because it works well for me as a learner) that uses learning targets and goals, set out even before the lessons begin. I like that it answers the mystery of where one is going and "why do I need to know this?" at the beginning of the learning process. I am far from the beginning but, at the same time, everyday is a new beginning.
Thank you concussion doctor for listening, for actually listening and for remembering with me why I was there when all else in your operation have been caught up in something entirely different, not entirely sure what, but it is most certainly not about my wellbeing, health and healing.
You will save your fearful facility from my powerful pathological destructive forces no doubt :)
And I,... I will move on now. with radical acceptance.
{...Which would ironically make me right; that ex-therapist really was the right person for me- because he both helped me so much and broke me so completely.
..."It's a Tao thing, you wouldn't understand" - is the dumb thought that pops into my head and it is so stupid and funny to me that I have to type}



Tuesday, May 14, 2019

a well groomed coincidence

Here is something funny.
Today my physical therapist told me that I reminded him of a good friend of his.
He reminded me of how he had thought that the first time I came to physical therapy, only he hadn't told me that then. We talked about whether he had or had not. He thought he had told me this already because I guess I have reminded him of her quite a bit and we have had some very significant conversations, but he had not told me about this friend. Maybe he had told me that I reminded him of a friend but I know he had not told me about this friend because, that friend, I'd have remembered him mentioning.
Apparently I remind him of this friend he has had since college and still keeps in touch with. He says she had some serious childhood trauma. She was kidnapped twice by the same guy. And there has recently been a documentary made about it.
-I think instantly of the Netflix show "Abducted in Plain Sight" I had watched a few months back. It was disturbing and fascinating. It was also helpful. She was an example to me. I remember how, though I had experienced nothing like this poor girl, this show made me realize and face the fact that I was and had been behaving like someone who had been groomed. -
I ask physical therapist what his friends name is.
Jan Brodbank
"Really?" I mention the name of the show. Yep, it's the same. I am intrigued. Why do I remind him of her?
He tells me a variety of things. One part is the trauma of a situation where the people who are supposed to be caring for you are betraying you. That was my ex-therapist and his IHC facility. It was also in a way, my parents who kind of screwed up, unintentionally in abandoning me when my brain was so broken and I needed more support as a teen.
I tell physical therapist how I found the documentary helpful and why, even though my situation was nothing like that. I tell him it made me think "I'm behaving like someone who has been groomed."
He tells me that is one significant way I reminded him of his friend, Jan. He had thought that very thing from our first conversation. Trying to protect a person who had and was causing me harm. Feeling conflicted about what to do and say, and how to stand up for myself with out hurting someone else. Not sure if I should speak out louder.
We, physical therapist and I, both are unsure if it was intentional or not from my ex-therapist and he has given me good insight in our conversations about this topic, but he sees many parallels that I share with this lady and that is one.
It is interesting.
and I am glad that he sees that and he understands some about the conflict I have with my captors mistakes being ignored very much to my expense.
Physical therapist, so sweet, so kind, so insightful agrees it very well could have been unintentional "grooming" but he points out to me the selfishness of ex-therapist in his effort to protect himself.
Sometimes life and coincidences are so very fascinating.

Monday, May 13, 2019

The Void

"don't try to solve this"
he really doesn't understand...and I know I've gone here before, visited these thoughts a million times. Is it healthy? Is it productive to visit them again? I don't know. It feels like slow and steady progress and I realize more and more in my continued struggle to accept the me that was so boldly rejected by the gods that determine who is worthy of acceptance and who is not. the Therapists, their Superiors, Colleagues, and Teams.
Are they my gods? will I allow them to be my gods?
My instinct for survival will not allow it, because they have rejected me and to be rejected by the gods who determine who is worthy of saving and accepting then what?
...he doesn't understand
I am not trying to simply solve "this" situation or him. I am not at all sure what the "this" is that he is referring to.
I am trying to solve me.
that is why I was there in the first place, I needed to solve me.
I don't really know how or what that looks like. I thought he did. I trusted him. ...and my thoughts are derailed again.
I have been reading a book by Lori Gottlieb called, "Maybe You Should Talk to Someone." It is about a therapist who is seeing a therapist. and oh yeah, now I remember what I came her to process...Too much... all at once. because I want to get this whole thing over and done with and move on quickly because it has already taken me too long. So naturally this book has all the answers I am looking for and all the answers to help me solve me.
Yep, this blog really does help me process and can help give me clarity as I just let whatever come out, come out. I wasn't thinking that but as I am trying to write my thoughts I realize that is what is happening and what I am trying to do.
Still rebelling against being patient with myself which has prolonged the process far more than shortened it.
These are new revelations to me as I write and I am liking this epiphany
but going to redirect now anyway back to one point I thought on processing that the book from my new therapist god Gottlieb (wait didn't I just reject the notion of therapist gods? or am I just rejecting the IHC Murray therapist gods?-ooh bold, I'm putting a name on... we'll see if I come back and change this, I might be turning the heat up on them... I might be choosing to fight a little harder for the righting of the injustice of their wrongs. Maybe I am increasingly annoyed by the evidence of wrongdoing and their complete unwillingness to work with me to right any of the harm they have caused. and they have. It is not good enough that they will use this to "help the with future clients" because that is bullshit and likely the "help" will be how they protect their money grab and insurance claims...
a tangent again,
yep, too much to process and too little time... inspired by a new source,
where I'm going with this,
yet to be determined
but I'll enjoy the ride because its not about the destination, the adventure is in getting there...
)
.railed again? no... rather here's the short list of thoughts this book has brought up today:
1. What is the emotional void that ex-therapist was filling and has now come to represents? -confidence, self acceptance, self love, acceptance, meaningful intellectual conversation, deeper connection, mysteries of TBI and how it actually effected my life-? not sure and I am kind of surprised by how not sure I am
2. what was the "precursor self-confession" of the dream I had prior to the complete system failure?
3. How do I "isolate myself" really?
4. What was my role in my family? -to gain them attention for my looks? (I had the blond hair and blue eyes... I was a cute little thing, but not spectacular) -to be the baby girl? to be the klutz? middle child? validator of my parents middle child syndromes? I don't know

the process
lifelong
sometimes fun
sometime interesting
sometimes a bugger of a job
when you've got so much going on. so many angles
aaaww the beauty and complexity of life
...what is my emotional void that is looking for a voice and validation?
Do I love men too much?
Do I have a cheating heart?
is it really not about ex-therapist at all?

Last appointment with concussion Dr. ... my eyes are drawn to about 4 inches of an arm. That is all that is visible of a person around the wall. Folded long sleeve button up shirt and bit of skin. Darker than I remember but I recognize it. The voice from the other side of the wall confirms. How am I so aware of this person? How did I know who it was by just that small piece of him.
I have walked right past my husband -and other friends and family members I know so very well- without even recognizing them, even when I am looking for them.
My drug of choice?
what is the deep void he has come to represent?

*a connection to a higher power? -that's a thought- I wish not to explore at this moment in time. so I'll log it real small- make note- and maybe revisit, later- when I feel prepared to explore- and as I say it this seems so obviously the void... maybe too obvious... so maybe not the void- overthinking over analyzing? as a way to justify myself out of facing it? 
-less speaking/thinking, more doing-
damned ex-therapist
I wish you hadn't been so lovable ...and helpful

Saturday, May 11, 2019

Too

Just a friendly reminder to who all who read or follow:
this blog is reflective of what I am feeling in the moment and not reflective of me as a whole.
Sometimes I need to allow myself to feel things so they may pass. Sometimes writing helps me process my feelings.
So please remember you are only reading the part of me that most needs processing assistance.
Thank you.

...that said
here is what's in my head
even though I don't think I really need this writing to process at the moment (blog was just up)
My mood is mostly okay, but still unstable
that is frustrating to me
I find I am spending too much time reminding myself that I am okay
that I am happy
I am
I just don't want to be reminding myself so much. I like better when it is more of my base and I am stable in it; only rocked occasionally by things that are significant rockers or with lots of build up... maybe that is a judgement. Whose to say what's significant anyway?
maybe because I am not, less significant things will rock my world.
... no, that analogy doesn't work so well. Small, seemingly insignificant things seem to be more sturdy. Small, low profile things tend to withstand greater winds and storms.
Maybe I am not so insignificant, maybe I am too big so I am easily shaken.
My emotions are often too big. Until they are not.
...I am off on a "me" tangent that I don't want to be on
and I don't really care about this nonsense anyway.
 I would like to feel more stable and solid in my emotions again. I am tired of the the tears.
Though some experiences are so exquisite we wish to savor them forever, I think I'd like for this one to pass now. Fade into the void it has left behind
... the trouble with being too much. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-emotional-intensity/201805/feeling-intensely-the-wounds-being-too-much
But it's only this moment
then I'm off to outside
a beautiful day
-scared of my ankle
but going anyway-
smile and play
that's more my way

the industry of blasphemy

When it was all still very fresh I felt upset and alarmed in the dousing defensive communication cycles pilot class we were participating in when withdrawal and cutting off were brought up as red level (abusive) defense mechanism in communication. I was upset and alarmed because that seems to be the stock and protocol solution to a therapists fallacy of countertransference.
Why would any institution, that is supposed to be crusading for mental health, going to use a red zone defensive communication pattern as the only solution to this human component?
It did not make any sense at all to me.
Makes me angry really.
I felt defensive.
And  almost angrily asked the overseeing psychologist about it after the class. I remember him being rather interested in my experience at first. I told him about how I had been writing about it and he was really interested in that. He didn't want to exploit me but he was interested in seeing what I wrote and in possibly using it for training his people on the importance of keeping countertransference in check in sessions. But, (does it come as a shock, of course not to just about everyone, but it still pisses me off)  he lost interest when I said I'd like to be involved an help with that. I'd be happy to share my story but I'd like some say on how it is used to train people. He hasn't talked to me since about it and maybe that is because I gave him this blog info so he doesn't need to, I am giving it away for free, but also, maybe I am just far too complicated a case for him or whatever, but it annoys me right now as I remember the state of mind I was still in and that he likely saw that we had different views on what the real problem was and what to do about it. It still annoys me even though I feel my line of thought coming more closely in line with what he seemed to be expressing; that it is and can be a major problem when a therapist is not addressing countertransference appropriately.
I am significant evidence of that. I can tell you first hand how badly that screws with your psychology.
It's supposed to be a safe place. You are vulnerable and you trust them so completely. Things are starting to make sense -maybe for the first time- in your confused dysfunctional life; you are starting to feel a calm that you may have never experienced before; but then, once again, your progress is sabotaged by the dysfunctions of the human condition. And once again is not your fault and entirely your fault at the same time. Only this time it feels divinely manifested due to the blasphemous level therapists have been elevated to, by you and by their own selves.
You have been abandoned by the gods because you are not worthy but there is no savior for you because the gods don't want you.
You'll fall back at some point into old habits and old patterns, and you can try an new god but you know they aren't your god and your aware of the blasphemy of the industry now so you can't trust any of it.
You also can't trust what you felt.
You can't trust your own feelings.
It was all fake. Man made.
and you are not even sure by who; them or you.
They are supposed to be the one in control. they are supposed to be the one helping you. but they broke you instead, because you got into their head?
When you weren't trying.
You, my friend, are a whole new mess of your old mess.
You'll not break free because you have been condemned
no one to fall back on
no one to trust
not even yourself.
It seems so silly
It sounds so made up
 but the depth and reality you now face and try to tackle every new day has you knowing how profoundly powerful psychology is and how they really are in a position of power.
I hate when other people have power over me ...and my emotions.
I wish it were as simple as it sounds to just not let them have that power.
I suppose I am handing my power over to others
...but the alternative is isolating myself?
How do I find the balance?
I am lost again.

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Explosive

I have been weening because I feel like I need to figure out my base again in order to know what I really need. I'm realizing I need to fine tune meds. I am disappointed I have to take them at all and had been very hopeful about going off.
I had hoped that I could, but dear old therapist kind of screwed me out of that possibility.
Concussion Dr. may have been correct way back in January that those meds were not the right meds. As of last appointment she thought I needed to give them more time. But she had kind of stopped listening, kind of like dear old therapist had, probably because she doesn't want to hear about it, because then she has to think and consider her colleague's (dear old therapist's) part in all of this and she just wants to believe whatever he told her.
More time, I have given too much of. I need stable. I am already to that point, the next step, sorting out any residual. And residual is explosive angry.
So it stays ever complicated and frustrating which is why I moved my next follow up, up and most likely why it will be goodbye forever to my found fortress of solitude turned kryptonite cave.
and weening. new job. still not stable.
Angry at injustices of raffles that were not done correctly, I won't donate now based on principle! But that is not the injustice I am really angry about, its the scapegoat that'll pay, or at least refund, for their mistake. In all honesty it was a really stupid and unfair mistake on their part since they entered and then awarded the prizes to donations of different increments that were not even intended for said raffle. We know those were the winners because the raffle tickets were business card side the other donations were postcard size. Postcard size, that was not intended for this raffle, were the winners. It is not right. and I don't trust the donation at all anymore. I make sure they know. "Sorry." ...but he's not going to do anything about it. Not going to make it fair to all those who had paid for raffle tickets whose entries became invalid when they decided to throw these others into the mix that forced the actual raffle tickets to the bottom of which ignorant puller did not know were the actual raffle tickets. It was annoying to watch. So it was not nothing but still, not something to feel explosive about.
...Explosive for the third time after getting off work at 2:30. The other two for other issues but equally as... nonthreatening.
I don't like this part of the cycle.
and I am angry.
angry at the injustice and the perpetuate
angry at the parallels that seem to suggest that I'm innately flawed, it is my fault that people will abandon me when I need them most.
I am angry
I was not abandoned tonight.
"The squeaky wheel gets the grease"
And that makes me angry too. I don't want to be the squeaky wheel... because my squeak is a big vicious wolf snarl ...a wolf that has been mistaken for a bad dog that shouldn't be feed.