I had a lot of trouble with talk therapy as well. There seemed to be a focus on "acceptance" and coping. Wanting to eliminate a symptom was seen as running from the cause. I felt expected to play a role within the office. And disagreement was being difficult, which meant I didn't really want to "dig in" or was an indication of some deeper issue or trauma. "Ah I see you don't want to talk about your mother. Interesting." So should I indulge them in their curiosity simply to appear "normal"?
> The solutions are basically: this is how your brain most likely works, here's how to plan around it in broad strokes, do your best to be consistent to that plan, and let neural plasticity will do the rest of the work for you
I so often tried to extract this information from therapists. I remember specifically saying, "Yes, I know it's _ok_ to be anxious, but sometimes I don't want to be. Sometimes you want to be the person in the room people depend on, and a jittery coward can't be that person. How do you plan for the inevitable anxiety? How do you push to achieve despite some hurdles?" I think a lot of folks cope fine with their mental health. But they still need help achieving their goals or putting limits on the worst aspects of their personality.