Of Therapy and Medicines, of Carpenters and Kings

So I owe you folks a post about the cool idea my amazing Texas therapist came up with (that I have not yet implemented), and I want to tell you about my new Seattle psychotherapist, who is doing both my meds and my therapy and who I like a great deal.

First, Therapist Karen's Wonderful Idea

We were talking about how I wasn't accomplishing anything. I have felt slothful (taking a term from Zen Buddhism), which tends to be a frequent mind-state for me and I just choose to give in to that. See? Choice is again the topic here.

So the Amazing Karen came up with the Therapeutic Competition, wherein Productive Skye and Slothful Skye compete to see who racks up the most points for a day and a week. I'm to create a list of tasks and activities to carry out every day, nothing too onerous or crazy. Then, which ever side I choose to follow for that task gets the point. I'm to add them up daily and weekly. The purpose here is to show me very graphically and tangibly how I'm making choices and to encourage me to make more active, productive choices. I think the Competition will help with that … once I actually implement it. So far, Slothful Skye has won hands-down by my not implementing the Competition at all. Sigh.

Second, the new Therapist Michele

I've had two appointments with her this week, yesterday and today, getting the info dump out of the way and getting a start on the medication changes. And deciding that yes, we both think we will work well together.

I like her. I like what she has had to say about her therapeutic practice, and I like her voice. I find her aesthetically pleasing, if that makes any sense.

So yesterday I gave her the forms I'd filled out (LOTS of questions) and answered more questions and told her things I thought were important to know (I've been in therapy off and on, mostly on, since 1984, so there's a lot to say). Today, we got sidetracked onto a few other childhood things, then went back to talking about my medical history, current health, and medications. She put me back on Lamictal (I don't know why my previous psych took me off it, but maybe because I had a feeling-suicidal episode he decided that it wasn't working anymore, even though it had worked well for several years). We will probably up the dose of my Pristiq one pill.

And once things even out on those two meds (although it can take several months for the Lamictal to fully settle in), we will begin decreasing the Xanax. That could take six to nine months because I'm on three milligrams a day and have been for about a year and a half. Xanax is highly habituating, so the body doesn't give it up easily.

So I'm going to see Michele once a week from now on. And I'm going to have at least one more phone appointment with The Amazing Karen. Plus, I'm giving them both permission to communicate about me because Karen can better articulate what we've gone through and the therapeutic concepts much better than I can. I will hate to give up Karen because not only has she done more for me in two years than anyone else has done in more than twice that, she's become a friend and she was the one hug I knew I could get every week, which to an affection-needy person like me meant the world. But Michele is going to be good for me, too. Again, I lucked out in the find-a-therapist lottery.