Welcome back! We all missed you, but it sounds like a wonderful vacation.
Quote: Hmmm...what else? I have therapy tonight which I'm dreading. I told her about 6 weeks ago that I was interested in planning a "stop date" and she essentially laughed...a la "um, you're nowhere near ready to stop, my dear". So, a month ago I told her that I wanted a more "solution based approach" -- that I didn't think that coming in there every two weeks crying about my childhood was helping....
I'm trying really hard to make sure that I'm NOT pulling away from her and from therapy because it's getting too close for comfort. What I think I realized was this:
I'm irked because I've told her that I didn't think it was working optimally for me. And she disagreed. But, she's not really holding up her end of the bargain by offering an alternate solution/path. And that irks me.
Sage, only you can really determine what a good stop date is for you. Based on my experiences with C's and Psy's however, setting a stop date can be sooooo trickey. As I look back on my 1/2 dozen or so C's and blocks of sessions with them, I don't really know if I ever hit it right on setting a stop date. I do know that when nicole and I stopped MC the last time, we were into them for about a year before we stopped. Unfortunatley, we probably should have kept it going for a while more or at least kept with some "maintenance sessions" for a while after. That probaly also holds true for some of my individual sessions too. I certainly do feel I stopped short a bit.
That goes back to some of the "old Dan Patterns" of slacking a bit when things are going well. I'm struggling with that now a bit and need to refocus on "do more of what works". That's a 180 for me.
But getting back to your C sitch, it is ultimaltely up to you, and If you don't feel your C is doing what you want then find one that will. Any ways, take it from someone who probably stopped short on all of my C's. Err on the side of cation and go a while longer than you think. I can't hurt, but do find one that works for you. It's your $$$ and they are not cheap I know.
