“I’ve shared more in my blog than I could ever tell my therapist.”
“I wish my therapist could read this online support group. Then they might begin to understand what I’m really going through.”
You’ve gathered up the energy and resources to start psychotherapy. It’s a big step and you’re excited to begin. But you find yourself unable to talk in therapy. What’s the point of talk therapy without the talking? We find it so incredibly easy to open up online, but when we’re in the therapy office, we become suddenly mute.
There are many strategies to help “open up” and be able to talk more freely while in psychotherapy. Here are a few.
1. Write it down.
One of the easiest ways to help overcome your fear or inability to talk in therapy is to write down some things that are important to you to talk about before session. Jot it down on a piece of paper, or keep a “therapy journal” even of topics or areas of your life that you want to talk about, you just find it difficult. Bring it to session, open it up, and pick a topic for that session.