Re:Length of a session (and suspended time)

Thanks for the comment. I have good sessions with my therapist too. So far she is the best therapist I've had, so I hope it continues.

I discussed the issue of what is a "normal" length for the bilateral stimulation part of our sessions. We do spend about 20-30 minutes discussing thoughts and observations and how my mind has been processing the images from our last targeting, then the other 30 minutes doing the bilateral stimulation. I've had only 9 visits with her in total. We did targeting of some "very low SUDS" issues in my fifth and sixth visits to give me a feel for bilateral stimulation. In only the last three visits have we been getting into a "real target". And as we get further in and she can see that I've been "tucking in", self-soothing, etc. between sessions in an effective way, we'll likely go 10-15 minutes for pretalk and 45-50 for bilateral stimulation. Of course I believe that the pretalk is needed, especially with all the thoughts and processing that goes on between sessions, and it does help you decompress a bit before the stimulation. (And keeping a "thought" journal helps specifically regarding the between sessions processing helps.)

She also mentioned that insurance companies generally don't pay for 90 minute sessions, so we have to work with what they give us. And for us who need to use insurance to pay for these things you just have to accept it.

But, as a testament to the great therapist I have, yesterday we went long. We started into our bilateral stimulation about 30 minutes in and we finished about 50 minutes later, so I had about an 80 minute session with her, despite the fact I only had a 60 minute appointment. (When I get into bilateral stimulation and am targeting, it seems that "time" becomes "suspended" inside, but goes at "warp drive" outside of you...I wonder if others have experienced something like that?) I told her I felt guilt about taking more of her time, but she let me know that "she is in charge of the time keeping" and "I am in charge of taking care of me" so that I didn't have to worry about it. I'm sure those extended sessions will be a very rare thing, plus it was the end of the day on a Friday, and I assume there were no other appointments after mine, but it was still nice of her. It is good to find a good therapist and i'm not sure if finding one is luck or hard work or both.

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