Anxiety Notebook.

My Therapist is off for the summer and sometimes when I have seen her it has been hard to find what to say. I thought if I kept a note of the times I feel anxious or depressed we can talk about it when the therapy starts up again. Do you think that this will help my therapy at all, or do you think that it's not worth bothering to keep notes?

It may help her to understand what it is that makes me anxious and depressed. She would be able to see if there was a pattern to it.

Vycky said:

This was actually one of my last therapists tool in order to keep a track on my emotions. He would ask me to write a little bit of how I had felt at the end of each day (or whenever I felt like it) and mail it to him. He wouldn't answer, but he would bring those things up in session and it's a good starter (specially for me. I was always struggling with what to say the first minutes of the session)

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Oh, @Vycky that is exactly how I am feeling. I clam up in front of her. She always asks what it is that I want to talk about but I thought that she would help me to dig. Maybe this is how they do it I'm not sure. I'm going to try to keep up the jotting things down.

My problem is that I suddenly forget to do things that I would normally do. Then I don't remember again for weeks or months afterwards again. I think this is part of my mental illness though, it's just a symptom. I'm writing down those things as well. There is so much that I would like to change about myself that is all due to the trauma in my childhood.

She asked me what I wanted out of the therapy and I didn't know fully what to say at the time. This notebook though is helping me to establish an answer for her. Hmm! The poor lady has some work to do with me! Lol.

harijobs said:

@janemariesayed Even I have the problem of forgetting the important things lately. I was worried that I have some form of mental illness but when I consulted a doctor he said it was simply I was too consumed by my thoughts and I was in depression and I am too much anticipating about my future. He said too much anticipation about a thing will make you worry for unnecessary things and you should learn to control the emotions. That is why I always have my journal with me and write down all the important moments and re- read it at the end of the day to see where I have to improve myself.

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I am really trying hard every day to remember things. I've got a diary on my desk and it sits right in front of me. I still forget though! My memory problem is due to the childhood trauma and my doctor says that it won't get better.

I just have to hope my way around it. @Robert Turner mentioned saying out loud if I have done something. I've tried that and it seems to work. But I also have to remember to say it out loud! It's a vicious circle but I seem to cope. As long as I don't have to worry about the outside world I can cope better.