Psychotherapy – After the session

Psychotherapy – After the session

A trip to the psychologist’s office is never an easy one. It’s not that I dread it, its, as I’m sure some of you can relate, the hashing up of all the traumatic experiences. Sometimes it feels like I do enough re-living of my own though the nightmares and random flashbacks that seemingly come out of nowhere. So, these sessions can wake the demon of PTSD and cause me to disassociate, lose focus and as a consequence, I don’t really get a lot of therapeutic benefits.

Things to discuss with your mental health professional

Despite all the triggering, I fight on because its what I know best. I need to. The latter option terrifies me. I find that overall, it does help keep me crawling down the road of mental wellness. And even though it’s uncomfortable and exhausting, it must be done. I just have to keep telling myself that challenge is really uncomfortable, without pain there can be no chance for change.

Ways to Improve your mental health


Of course, I can’t speak to the effectiveness of your sessions while in therapy because we are all different and what landed us on the therapist’s couch is as unique as you and I. What I find most perplexing is not what takes place during the session but rather, how I feel afterward.

My experience with the post-session psychotherapy time is this; some days I can barely make it to the office, I feel so despondent but after the psychologist and I work through what we are working on, I walk out of there feeling renewed and wondering as if I am cured.

OK, maybe not cured but I do feel as though I can take on the remainder of the day with my authenticity. Meaning I see the world without the cloudy fog of PTSD, anxiety and depression. Whist others, I walk in feeling triggered, anxious or dark from depression, go through the therapeutic routine and come out feeling like I was just caught off guard by a mental illness avalanche. I have yet to figure out why.

Has this ever happened to you? Tell me about it in the comment section below.

The aftermath of a challenging session sometimes puts me down and out for a few days and almost always takes me out for the remainder of the day. Sometimes I stress eat to try and cope, other times I shut the rest of the day off with slumber.

Having a counselling background myself, I know that the patient doesn’t grow if not gently nudged to do so. In order to effectively get to the roots of the issue, one has to be challenged. So, if it appears as though you’re are feeling worse, perhaps it’s the therapists professionally guiding you towards the tools you need to get better.

Hopefully, through mindfulness training and coping skill-building, I can l slowly start walking out of the session and right back into living, at least more often than not. I long for those times, I just know they are coming; I just have to work on it, keep going to therapy so I can start to feel free after the sessions.


Please, hang in there, if you have found the right therapist, then I’m confident you’ll be on your way to a better you, on your way to healing. I’m rooting for you.

if you are suffering from PTSD or another mental illness, please reach out. I thank you for your service and you are still worthy and mean something. I believe in you!


If you are struggling please go here: Crisis Services Canada

Want help fund my book? donate: GOFundMe – The Road To Mental Wellness – The book


You may also enjoy: Slowly Walking My Way To Mental Wellness.

Contact me on my Facebook page: facebook.com/TRTMW

Check out my friend’s blog here: http://jodybetty.com


Jonathan Arenburg1 Comment

Going Against Your Grain


What lies between our ears is nothing short of amazing. Our brains are unlike any other animals on the planet. Its ability to reason and problem-solve, create and dream are top of the intellectual pecking order. 


Our neurology and its intellectual powers have provided us with a lifestyle unimaginable to our ancestors.  In fact, some argue that this is the best time in human history to be alive. We live in a so-called golden age thanks to a few key things. Technology at our fingertips and our most prized possession, money! It is after all, what makes the world go round, right?

Yep, this is the life, technology at our fingertips, easy access to all the yummy treats we can get our hands-on and Netflix, can’t forget about Netflix. I have never known war, never felt the pain of starvation and have never had a park bench for a bed. I believe the majority of us who have all the necessities in life are grateful for them, Yet we seem to be sick and unhappy, why? In our case, we will focus on mental health.

So then, why is mental illness conditions on the rise? why aren’t we living the eutopia mass marketing is promising us? Well, I believe that mass marketing has re-defined us in such a way that tells us that we are nothing without the latest and greatest gadgets, the newest, in-season apparel and dictates what the definition of beautiful is. All of these things don’t make us who we are, but they sure have us convinced that they do. Mental illness can rise out of never being good enough.

The impact of mass marketing on society

The negative impact materialism has on society is undeniable, yet in my opinion, it is not the most impactful on our mental health; rather, its the way we set about to buy the things that exacerbate and or contribute to mental illnesses, it’s our occupations for most of us. We are but a cog in a large wheel that few of us have a desire to be participating in.  

Going Against Your Grain is the reason I think so many suffer from within. We all have a “pipe dream” that we would all rather be doing, but alas, we need to do what it takes to put clothes on our backs and food in our bellies. 

If all you want to do in life is be a writer, a stay at home parent or a scientist, yet you slug along in a profession that is the polar opposite of your passion, I believe that going against your grain will produce anxiety and depression. For many, it will blossom into a disorder. 


We are dreamers and our mental wellbeing suffers when we can not fulfill the passion that burns within us. Perhaps we need to re-define what our passions are in terms of how they play a roll in our lives. Can’t do it for a living? make it a hobby, become an unofficial expert on what you love and most importantly, don’t let your fears stand in your way; if opportunity knocks…… Answer.

benefits of doing what you love.


if you are suffering from PTSD or another mental illness, please reach out. I thank you for your service and you are still worthy and mean something. I believe in you!

If you are struggling please go here: Crisis Services Canada

Want help fund my book? donate: GOFundMe – The Road To Mental Wellness – The book


You may also enjoy: Slowly Walking My Way To Mental Wellness.

Contact me on my Facebook page: facebook.com/TRTMW


Check out my friend’s blog here: anewdawnaa.com



Jonathan Arenburg1 Comment

My PTSD Earned With Distinction



The wider world around us is rich with the potential for danger and destruction and like an animal in the wild, I am on constant high alert. Although my fire service years are far behind me now, they are far from a distant memory and the emergency service mindset is a sharp as it was the day, I turned in my bunker gear.
Our minds, like firefighters, are wired to think of every possible disaster and how to mitigate them, my anxiety disorder was a bonus skill in the fire service because, by its very nature, it created a worst-case scenario thinker out of me. I thought of every angle, all the things that could go wrong and ways to minimize them. 
But when my generalized anxiety disorder collided with post-traumatic stress, Its superpowers became toxic and slowly turned the fire service against my mental health., chipping away at my compassion and my desire to help and make a real difference. 
Because my anxiety never shuts off and PTSD is often times the driver of the rig, I can see now why I was destined to become a casualty of the EMS war; one too many battles both on the interior and on the fire ground/accident scene.

Now, years later, I am petrified that I will be sucked into someone else’s emergency. I am scared because I know in my heart that I would not be able to cope with it. This fact saddens me because at my core I am a firefighter; I guess being disabled is something I have yet to grow accustomed to. I am learning that there is no shame in what I can not control. What I need to learn next is to somehow dull the fight, flight, freeze and emergency mindset.
With all that said, I gave the service my all and was determined to do everything I could to do my part to ease the pain and suffering of all those in need of help I am also a believer in leaving something better than when you found it, it was this mantra that drove me, I wanted to make positive changes around the station. One thing I was big on was safety and I worked hard to build accountability systems that would keep my brothers and sisters safer.

Shop all things firefighter related


So, do I regret my years in the fire service? I would have to say that even though I am on this hellish roller coaster ride of mental illness, I am proud of my years of service, my contribution to both my community and my department. As far as I am concerned, my PTSD was earned with distinction, in other words, I sacrificed my own well-being to help others and at the end of the day that has to mean something, right?

If you are struggling my friend, struggle no longer, there is help out there and other warriors just looking for someone who understands what they are going through. Get out of the service if you must, maybe the next person you need to save is yourself.


if you are suffering from PTSD or another mental illness, please reach out. I thank you for your service and you are still worthy and mean something. I believe in you!


If you are struggling please go here: Crisis Services Canada

Want help fund my book? donate GOFundMe – The Road To Mental Wellness – The book.

Trauma Specialist, Dr. Jeffery Hosick: jeffreyhosick.com

You may also enjoy: The Mental Health Work Injury Called PTSD


Email: roadtomentalwellness@gmail.com

Facebook: facebook.com/TRTMW

Jonathan Arenburg1 Comment