This week we discuss how therapists deal with a patient not being able to answer their questions, if they get annoyed, and how they can sit with someone who is crying and hurting. We also talk about wanting to cancel therapy and isolate when struggling, and why we can act childlike in therapy and life. Kati also talks about being traumatized by a mental illness, signing a no harm / no suicide contract, and how we can find the balance between honoring our past and not being overwhelmed by it. 

Ask Kati Anything ep.143 | Your mental health podcast, with Kati Morton, LMFT  

Audience questions: 

1. Hi Kati, What is it like as a therapist to sit with someone while they're crying and hurting so much? Do you want to comfort them? Do you feel uneasy? Do you become desensitized to it? I think...  

2. Are therapist’s annoyed when clients have a hard time answering their questions? I’m worried that I respond with “I don’t know” too often, and I’m concerned about the possibility of this hindering my progress or making my therapist think...  

3. My question is about canceling therapy sessions when I am feeling the worst or get bad news. For example, I got bad news about my husband and his back injury and him not getting back to work anytime soon. I felt so...

4. Why do I behave so child-like when we talk about trauma in session? I don't feel like I have control over it, wasting my time as I cease to function & speak. My therapist said that I'm resistant - but I can't help it! I do struggle with dissociation too and right now it feels like trauma therapy is going...  

5. How can you respect/honor your past without being completely engulfed or invalidating? It seems no matter how I look at it, my past was traumatic and at the same time. I don’t know how to admit it was traumatic...

6. My therapist wants me to sign a no suicide/no self harm contract because of how I have been feeling lately. I understand from her perspective why she feels she might need this. But for me since she suggested doing this, it feels like I’m failing...  

7. Is it possible to be traumatized by being mentally ill? I've had depression for 4 years before I was diagnosed but shortly before I went to the therapist, I completely hit rock bottom. I couldn't write important emails anymore, I couldn't even read a full sentence and on top of that, I...  8

. My therapist told me that “therapy is not a weight loss program.” What does this mean? I am overweight and I am trying to get help with my habits of overeating/binging and I want to lose weight. Is she saying that therapy can’t help me...

9. I feel like I have so many questions to ask that it’s difficult to pinpoint which one to take the plunge with! Since you’re a marriage and family therapist, I’ll go in the direction of my husband & I’s relationship. We’ve always struggled in the bedroom...

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