I’m sorry yours didn’t work out for you. I get that society can sometimes push this idea of therapy on us like it’s meant to be some kind of miracle cure, but I think that’s wrong. It’s not going to work for everyone and the industry really needs to accept that. But I’m glad you were able to find your way back to somewhere that felt safe afterwards. Being in those dark places is difficult, to say the least… I’ve been there, too.
My journey took about a decade in total. I’ve seen about 8 different psychologists and psychiatrists over the course of my adult life and they’re definitely not all made equal. Some were useless, some were helpful, some may have even been harmful. But I’m fortunate that I have been able to emerge the other side, no longer needing to see any.
It was rough, though. Firstly, I had to break through the layers of denial. That the things that happened to me weren’t my fault, but bad things done by others. Shouldering the blame myself was so much more simple and allowed me to be depressed and hate myself instead of facing how terrible some people can be. Hating myself was convenient as it allowed me to indulge in whatever I felt like because there was no perceived hope for myself, anyway. No reason I should try to be better.
Secondly was working through all these revelations and the feelings they brought forth. I was angry for a while. Angry at how insensitive other people could be that they could hurt another like that, angry at how little people care about each other, angry at the lack of support I received. It made me hypersensitive to any perceived threat for a while, too. But fortunately, this did not last more than a few years. Otherwise, I may have gotten into some real trouble, as I was quite self-destructive during this period, too.
Thirdly, I suppose I just accepted it all. I took the lessons for the future and threw the rest out the window. I can’t even be angry about anything specific from the past even when I try (and I have tried a few times). I don’t know what pushed me into this phase, to be honest. I wish I knew, because if I did, I would write a short book about achieving it and give it to the world for free.
That being said, if I ever do figure it out, I still will share it. But for now, I can only grasp as straws. And I’m not “done” with this phase as I still have quite a ways to go. But it’s much easier than the last phase, for which I’m grateful.
But now the onus of bettering myself falls entirely to me. I don’t have any obvious issues that need fixing. Just the smaller ones. That can lead to complacency. Thus, I surround myself with people who make me want to strive to be better regardless. To be a better person today than I was yesterday.