Thoughts/advise on whether to continue therapy

[Donaldson]

Hello, this is my first post on this forum so I'll try to be concise with my mental health history as we all know its impossible to get everything down in one post.

Essentially I've had very bad anxiety and intermittent panic episodes over the last 3/4 years. Its got to the point where I became very agoraphobic (I wouldn't go anywhere more than 5 minutes walk from my house). I've had lots of therapy from different therapists. The therapy I'm having at the moment is ACT which I've reacted positively to. My therapist is great, he's managed to grasp my issues in a way that makes me feel he understands and in turn I have become less agoraphobic.

The problem is that now I'm capable of getting to therapy in person (it used to be on skype) he obviously wants to do exposure therapy with me in the sessions. We can't, however, expose me to distance from home because he would need time to be back in his office for his next session. So he wants me to go in nearby lifts (iv been very claustrophobic since a kid) as a way of exposing me to fear and learning that its okay to not be in control. the problem with this is that I hate it, I find it so difficult and feel like a failure when I cant do it. I hadn't been in a lift for over 10 years. So far I've used lifts in therapy now 2 times and it hasn't got/doesn't feel easier. My question is this: Should I stop this therapy? the reasoning being that its helped me push out against agoraphobia and I can continue to do that without it now. I don't actually care about being able to use lifts but he believes that the lifts represent the same issues that made me/keep me agoraphobic. So I don't know...

any thoughts would be appreciated, sorry for the length of post

cheers!

[Buster70]

Hi , I start cbt this week had an hour assessment two weeks ago and I felt a bit better just for talking to somone , I have doubts about going as some of my problems are real family problem that won't be going away but the positive side of me says what have i got to lose , you've had some results so I would stick with it better to regret something you did rather than didn't hope you carry on and look back thinking glad I did this and I'm hoping I'll be doing the same , take care .

[NoPoet]

Hi, I'll respond properly later when there's more time. Exposure therapy isn't about doing something once and gritting your teeth in horror. It's about doing it five hundred times while gradually learning to relax and overcoming the odd setback along the way. It can be painful and terrifying at first but this is because you are directly challenging the fears.

If therapy hasn't achieved much then you either haven't found the source of the problems or you need to be doing more. Going out there like you've started doing is a huge step in the right direction. The "no pain, no gain" maxim is especially true of therapy. This doesn't mean you have to traumatised yourself but it does mean you need to actively place yourself in situations you fear.

Sorry if this sounds blunt, it isn't meant to be. You can do it!

[Fishmanpa]

Congrats on taking positive steps toward healing! I believe stopping now would be like getting halfway up the mountain, having the summit in sight and turning back because it might be too challenging to get there. Therapy is work, sometimes hard and unpleasant but as they say and I know personally, it's worth it!

Positive thoughts