What is Counseling at a Psychosomatic Clinic Like? Personal Experience with Fees, Duration, and Therapies | [Panic Disorder Management]

What kind of image do you have of "counseling"?

After frequently seeing scenes of people receiving counseling as part of their daily routine in American TV dramas, my previous negative image changed to "maybe it's actually good" (I'm simple like that).

In Japan, I have the impression that it hasn't really caught on yet, especially among the middle-aged and older generations.

・I don't want people around me to know I'm going (shame)
・The image of someone with deep, dark psychological issues
・The fees are high
・It's a mystery what they ask you
・Does just talking even have any effect in the first place?

It took me a year after I started going to a psychosomatic clinic before I decided to "try counseling."

It took a lot of courage, but I decided to give it a try because I felt that just taking medication wasn't enough.

Now, I can gradually ride the train, I have more opportunities to learn about my own thought patterns and stay calm, and I feel that counseling has increased what I am capable of doing.

Today, I will share my personal experience of 10 months of ongoing "counseling."

[Market Rates, Frequency, and Duration of Counseling]

This is about counseling provided by psychologists at psychosomatic clinics.

I checked the market rates (in Tokyo) for psychosomatic clinics around me.

I think the frequency and duration depend on the content of the counseling and the severity of the symptoms, but this is my case.

[Notes on Fees]*In the case of my clinic

1. Counseling fees are prepaid. Same-day cancellations are non-refundable

2. A doctor's consultation is included each time, so a consultation fee of about 1,400 yen is added

Since the end of the counseling period is not clearly defined, I feel a bit anxious about the financial aspect.

However, there aren't many opportunities to take a long, hard look at yourself, and since there are many things you notice from the perspective of others, such as professionals, I continue it thinking of it as an investment in myself.

[Therapies Used in My Counseling]

There are two therapies I receive during my 50 minutes.

I spend half of the 50-minute session on each. They always ask for my preference, and sometimes we focus mainly on what I want to talk about.

1. Exposure Therapy

Since I am afraid of riding the train, the goal is to set step-by-step targets, confirm how far I can go before the next counseling session, and discuss how to handle symptoms when they arise, all to build up successful experiences.

I once bought a book on exposure therapy and tried it myself, but I gave in to the fear of the train and gave up after two attempts, thinking, 'I knew it, this is impossible!'

I mean, people don't usually go out of their way to face such intense fear, right?

I'm the same way, so people who are practicing riding the scary train are truly amazing. I'm rooting for you!

Now, because I feel the pressure of having to report my practice during counseling, the number of times I ride the train has increased as a result.

Considering everything, I think it was good for me to have someone do exposure therapy with me.

2. Schema Therapy

It seems that 'my way of thinking is greatly influenced by my environment since childhood,' so we carefully trace what kind of family environment I grew up in, starting from my early years.

By digging deep into what I felt at those times, my values, way of thinking, and so on become visible.

The point is that those thoughts are not necessarily bad.

They have provided benefits until now, so there is no need to deny them. It's just that when things are a bit painful, they might be going too far, so adjusting them is the trick to living well, apparently.

For example, one of the things pointed out to me.

When a problem occurs, there are three patterns for the cause: 'it's my fault,' 'it's someone else's fault,' or 'blame neither myself nor others.'

・Self-punishing tendency: Perceiving it as one's own fault and blaming oneself
・Other-punishing tendency: Perceiving it as someone else's fault and blaming or attacking others or the situation
・Non-punishing tendency: Blaming neither oneself nor others

'Ako-san, you seem to have a self-punishing tendency. It is highly likely that this was acquired in your childhood environment.'That was the feedback I received.

I am the type who reflexively thinks, 'I was at fault,' whenever something happens. But that is not a personality issue; it was a 'method for survival' that I acquired in childhood.

It's not a problem at all now, but when I was little, I felt my father was very strict. Through schema therapy, we dug deep and I realized that this might be the cause.

To repeat what I said earlier, there is no need todeny this. If you adjust it when things are a bit painful, things might go well.

When problems arise, there are three ways to perceive them, and there is no single right answer. It is important to know that some people have a non-punitive tendency (they do not blame themselves or others). And in my case, if I can get closer to that, I might feel a little more at ease.

First, understand your own thinking. Then, identify the points where you might be able to loosen up.

For me, there were many discoveries where things I thought "everyone thinks this way, right?" were actually not the case at all.

[If you want to heal fundamentally, counseling is recommended]

What I learned from receiving counseling is,

That each has a different approach.

Medication is a symptomatic treatment that suppresses symptoms.

For those who want to heal fundamentally, facing how you perceive things through counseling might be a step closer to recovery.

"I want someone to listen to me a bit more"
"I want to be freed from my daily worries"
"I want to understand myself better"
"I am resistant to medication"

For people like this, counseling is recommended.

It is quite a high hurdle to expose all your weaknesses and talk about them to someone, isn't it?

Butthe Japanese trend of "you must be strong"
💪endurance
💪working hard
💪not causing trouble for others
💪not disturbing the harmony
seems to encourage things like this, and I feel there are many people who are having a harder time than necessary.

Looking at the articles of everyone who gave me a "like," you are all working so hard that I want to say it's okay not to work any harder!

Even if it's not counseling, it would be nice if there were more reliable places where you could talk about such things.

There are various hurdles to counseling, but one thing I earnestly hope for is that counseling fees should be eligible for medical expense deductions!

Even though self-pay dental treatment (ceramic) is allowed...

If counseling and a doctor's consultation are a set, I would like the whole thing to be recognized as a medical expense deduction.

I think if counseling became more widespread and easier to receive, and more people felt their hearts lightened, everyone would be happy.

I am working on panic disorder management from five angles. As one of them, "balancing the mind," I talked about counseling this time. I have written in detail about the other four pillars in this article.

If you found this helpful or relatable, I would be happy if you could press the 'like' button. May we increase our moments of peace together, even if just a little!