Hearing from others, reading a lot of stories, and a little of my own personal experience has proven to me that there just isn't a "one-size fits all" therapy for everyone with the same disorder or issues. The psychiatrists want to medicate and psychologists seem to want to apply whatever therapy they like the best. I think that in the treatment of mental disorders, the mental health field needs to broaden its perspective and create individual treatment plans for each patient, simply because what might work for me may not work for the guy sitting next to me who has been diagnosed with the same disorder. First of all, we're all physiologically different. That's why there are so many diverse medications on the market. Second, our life experiences, although similar, are different as well, which means we should have a variety of treatment options open to us so we can discover what combination will work for each individual.

Now, that being said, I am beginning to see a change in the mental health field in this kind of direction. Newer generations of therapists are coming into the field with the knowledge of a wider variety of therapeutic techniques, whereas the older generations were taught very few techniques. The toolbox available today includes so much more than it did even 20 years ago. This means that the concept of creating individual therapy plans is closer to becoming a reality.

For me, a support group that includes people in various stages of healing is more beneficial than being in a group where everyone is pretty much in the same place. And I have found more benefit in groups that were fully or partially self-directed than I have in groups that followed a specified format.

I also like individual therapy that is partially self-directed because then I have the ability to address issues that the group may not have had time to get into. Also, I am much more comfortable in a one-on-one setting because I can develop a deeper sense of connection and trust, allowing me to expose the more vulnerable aspects of my psyche.

I think someone should develop play therapy for adults, seriously, with toys. Many childhood abuse survivors become parents and realize they don't have a clue how to play with their children, because they simply just don't know how to play at all. That happened to me. I think play therapy would allow our "inner child" to emerge and learn social skills and explore creativity. Individual play could include sand, clay, coloring, painting, drawing, building toys, etc. which would engage our creative sides and allow us to enjoy the simple pleasure of free form play. Group play could include sports, but I think it would be more appropriate to do far simpler activities, such as playing with dolls or action figures, playing made up games on a playground with adult sized equipment, or playing other silly games.

I also think mindfulness practices should be included in therapy. Most abuse survivors have serious issues with anxiety. Learning relaxation techniques, meditation, and present-centered awareness techniques are amazingly effective. With continuous practice, we can learn to keep our attention focused in the moment rather than focused on our painful past or the unknown future.

Cognitive behavior therapy is beneficial in helping to change negative thought patterns and distorted thinking. Habitual negative thinking is the greatest contributor to long-term depression. I wouldn't say that CBT is the cure, per se, but it is very effective in helping a person override negative thoughts. In my own experience, the more I use the technique of rational response, the more I find myself having a rational and positive thought as my first thought rather than a negative thought as my first thought in a situation. It definitely takes time to achieve that and ongoing use, because implementing a new habit requires practice in order for the new habit to take hold.

I've read about wilderness therapy, which teaches people independent and interdependent survival skills. I hear this can be very good for abuse and trauma survivors because it provides critical thinking skills and boosts self-confidence.

There's also dance therapy and a variety of massage therapy techniques that help a person release emotions and memories stored in the muscles of the body. This allows a person to process feelings and thoughts that seem to be "stuck" or "hidden".

Anyway....sorry for the long ramble.

Thank you for this post and Jillie for your reply. I got so discouraged when I didn't know how to engage my special needs son in play. Occupational/speech/ and cognative therapies have helped him and me too.

I have a special needs child as well, so I completely understand. My oldest, my teenage daughter, I took her home from the hospital and called my mother and said, "She's fed, bathed, diapered, and completely awake....what do I do with her???!!??" My mom told me to play with her. And I thought to myself, "How on earth do you play with a newborn infant?" So, I took a guess. I put on music, got out some stuffed animals and danced them in front of her and sang to her. She now is a music fanatic, plays the cello and the flute, wants to learn violin, piano, and guitar. I would have never thought dancing stuffed animals would have that kind of effect!

Thank you for that post Jillie! I sometimes feel like a fruitcake cause I have a hard time playing with my son at the age he is at now, which is right around the age my mom started shutting down my play time, and I never played with another kid. I have no clue how to play with a five year old! LOL!

I'm starting a therapy called schema therapy, as well as learning to practice mindfulness. I tried anti depressants, anti anxiety meds before, but to little effect. Actually, I have better luck with using SAMe and st johns wort for depression the script drugs!

I will say one thing, I wish there was a fix all pill out there, I'd take it in a heartbeat! But I know theres not!

It is interesting to me, I work with a lot of abused horses, the methods we use to help them overcome their abuse must be tailored to each horse, what works for one does not always work for another, even if the type of abuse they went through was similar. However, horses with similar personalities will often benefit from similar courses of re-training. Also, it takes a horse about twice as long to recover from abuse then the time the abuse was inflicted upon them for. And who knew, horses will also display symptoms very similar to what we as people do, with having triggers, anxiety, depression, and flashbacks. One blessing we as people have is a voice to communicate with! Many horses abuse is continued over and over, because no one can see that that negative reaction they are receiving from a stimulus (IE saddle, crop, bridle, hose) is a trigger from a prior abuse, and will punish the horse for being "silly" and over-reacting to an everyday object.
Ok, alll done comparing us to horses now :P