My Therapist Seems Great. Why Am I Feeling Like Something Bad Could Happen Suddenly?

When you have a therapist you believe is qualified and is working with you well, it can be confusing and distressing to have unexplained feelings of danger in session. Often, this happens when implicit memories are triggered by something about the therapist. In other words, your feelings of threat are related to the past but are being triggered in the present moment. Some parts of your system may confuse your therapist for the person who hurt you as a child. No wonder you are feeling distress!

When I work with clients whose primary source of trauma was their mother, I am very aware that I might be triggering them because of some similarities, such as my age or hair color. Or it might be because I seem like a mother in some way. Here are some other ways a therapist might be a trigger for past trauma memories:

• age
• tone
• authority
• warmth
• unpredictability
• gender
• caregiving role
• relational closeness
• facial expressions
• pacing
• even positive attention

While it might not make sense immediately and it might make you feel a little off-balance, I encourage you not to dismiss the emotions, thoughts, or urges that come up. They are clues to your past experiences.

This page is part of the Therapy and Finding Safe, Supportive Healing section of the CommuniDID site, which explains how to evaluate therapists, recognize trauma-informed care, and understand what safe, phase-based DID treatment should look like.

Explore more:

• Questions about therapy and DID
• What Are Signs of a Good Therapist for DID or OSDD?

Have a question this page didn’t answer? Click “Yes” or “No” below and a comment box will appear where you can leave your question. Comments are reviewed but not made public.