“Say More About That” Show Notes: Episode #5 – Kathy, a 43 year old woman, strategically addresses her issues with therapy.
Jeff Guenther, MS, LPC on Mar 31, 2019 in Say More About That
Kathy, a 43 year old woman, who was introduced to therapy as a kid by watching the TV show Frasier, didn’t know much about the counseling process when she was younger. She first saw a counselor in college but the therapist didn’t offer her anything. Then, after her dad passed away, she became narcoleptic. Which influenced her to seek help. The therapist was able to quickly solve her narcoleptic issues. Kathy eventually was diagnosed with misophonia, which is the hatred of everyday sounds. She found a new counselor to address the issue and was introduced to mindfulness therapy. Then all of a sudden, her husband had a cardiac arrest which flipped her life upside down. She soon after started experiencing a lot of anger and codependency issues that overwhelmed her. Once again, she found a new therapist to deal with it. Listen to find out how Kathy strategically addressed each mental health issue that popped up and all the skills she has learned along the way.
Jeff, a licensed therapist and the host of Say More About That, talks with Tegan about her experience of searching for a therapist and going to counseling.
This episode covers:
- Why Kathy’s first experience with therapy was a dud for her and how it failed.
- How she unexpectedly started to suffer from narcolepsy after her father’s death and how she decided to treat it.
- How Kathy’s diagnosis of misophonia made her feel completely stressed out and fantasizing about killing her husband who triggered the misophonia.
- How she dealt with her husband suddenly suffering from a cardiac arrest.
- How she started to feel hijacked by feelings of anger and what specifically her therapist has done to help her deal with it.
- Her “Ah Ha” moment when her therapist suggested she may be suffering from codependency.
Memorable Kathy quotes in the podcast
On her first introduction to therapy as a kid:
“Frasier was a big influence when I was kid to what I thought therapy was. Not necessarily a radio talk show. But Frasier and Niles being neurotic individuals. I didn’t really have a well formed idea of what therapy was when I was growing up.”
On how Kathy felt after her first counseling experience in college:
“I was like well, therapy didn’t offer me anything so I don’t know why I’d try it again.”
On her second therapist that was a good match:
“She was a deeply empathetic person. And she had me do a thing that was really, well, I’ll never forget it. She had me lie on a couch and she had me get in touch with when I was little and what it felt like when my dad was abusing me. She had me talk about all the feelings about why it wasn’t fair and why it was happening.”
On her experience of dealing with misophonia, a hatred of sounds:
“It’s basically when a trigger sound happens, your thoughts go through your brain and cause an immediate stress response. Trigger sounds for me are people eating, chewing, the sound of silverware hitting glassware, fingernail clipping, especially at work."
On how her therapist addressed her anger issues:
“She made it quite clear that the source of my anger was under my control. And just to know that it was in my control to choose to make this anger stop. I was like, ‘I’ll do what ever you want.’ I was a willing participant in releasing all of it.”
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