Just a quick update to let you know what my visit to the psychotherapist entailed.

I managed to keep my anxiety relatively low by distracting myself with other thoughts, and, whenever my appointment did pop into mind I’d think things like “It’s nothing to worry about, there’s nothing there that will scare me, nothing there that can hurt me” and a bit of “This is something that simply has to be done to progress, I will get nowhere by avoiding it. It will be over soon and then I will be fine.”

The whole process was simple, easy and not scary. I was asked to fill out a form beforehand, I’m sure you’ll know the type. It had questions like “Have you felt lonely or isolated recently?” and asked you to rate on a 0-10 scale.

Afterwards I went with the psychotherapist into his office and he asked me what kinds of situations make me anxious, and then suggested situations to me and had me rate my expected anxiety level on a scale of 1-10. Situations like: giving a seminar, going on a first date with someone I know, going on a first date with someone I don’t know etc. This enabled him to see what exactly it was that made me uncomfortable, which he said was “the unknown”. A fear of not knowing what is going to happen, which is exactly right. I feel the need to prepare myself for situations and so need to know roughly what will happen…if I don’t, then that’s when the anxiety begins. Of course there are a few situations outside being scared of the unknown.

He suggested I read some of these self-help leaflets.

I would have been referred to a psychotherapist/counsellor however I will be moving away shortly and the current waiting list to see someone is around 3 months. So he suggested I arrange counselling for when I move instead.

Done and dusted!

If you have a meeting with a therapist or counsellor feel free to ask me about it- I might be able to help

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