It's hard enough having Major Depressive Disorder, PTSD and other diagnosis' that require medication intervention without having to be on guard for their side effects. In other words, how am I supposed to tell the difference between an irrational thought created by negative thoughts or caused by a medicine imbalance? It's tricky, that's for sure.
Those are the times I rely on my therapist. I talk to Faith about what's going on in my head. I depend on her training, experience, wisdom and walk with the Lord to be able to sort through my messy mind. I've witnessed her pull it apart, write down the pieces then sort them into sections that make sense.
She keeps working with me until all those fragments become pieces of a puzzle I understand. She then helps me put those pieces into little piles that relate to one another. When they are ready and after she has explained them to me, she tells me how positive all those pieces are to my self-care. It's like she's proud of me for being able to work through the difficulty of putting my brain back together.
Once the pieces are ready, Faith helps by using a piece of paper and a pen to draw out a diagram. It can be a diagram of just about anything but to me, it puts my brain back together and gives me something new to focus on. It's like my old brain was dumped out onto her desk, she gently and purposely reorganized the chaos that was in my head then organized them into the kind of order that I could use and take home with me.
I pray all of you have a therapist like Faith Gallup. I love her as my sister in Christ, I trust her with my inner most dark places, when I feel sad I'm comfortable crying in front of her and if I have a conflict with her, she is incredibly humble and sincere if she needs to apologize.
It's both a pleasure and painful for my recovery to be in therapy with her. Truth be told, God knew exactly who I needed at this stage of my recovery. I love Him even more for choosing her and for her allowing me to be one of her clients.
If you live near Libertyville, IL or Gurnee, IL Click Here for Faith Gallup, MSW, LCSW
