ippolite

Get Tom Waits to grunt over it, and you've got yourself a winner.

Do you ever play mind games with your clients? Like reverse psychology? Or trying to provoke a particular response? For example, try to make a client angry who has difficulty expressing their anger?

Thanks for sharing that. As far as the "arguments" though, do these happen when when you're waking up and awake? Or are they dreams?

I've had vivid, but mundane dreams about conversations or arguments and only realized days later, after being angry with the person, that it was just a dream. That reminds me of what the OP said about believing a certain football team had won the Super Bowl. I have stuff like that happen all the time. I'd just considered it vivid dreaming since I was asleep: not hallucinating. The hallucinations felt absolutely real and continued after I felt sure I was pretty wide awake.

Probably an impossible question to answer, but how long do you think you should stick with a therapist if you feel you're not benefiting? In terms of time or ground covered? (By the latter, I mean if you've gone over your history pretty thoroughly, you've developed a relationship with trust, you've discussed different approaches, but you're still not making significant or satisfactory progress.)

How do you feel about peer led peer support groups for people with mental illness?