Twenty Hours and Ten Minutes of Therapy

October 8, 2015 6:22 AM

Twenty Hours and Ten Minutes of Therapy Reflections at 50 on being young, scared, and coming out. Allison Green taped the therapy sessions she had when she was 23. Years later, she listened to them and wrote about what, and who, she heard.
posted by listen, lady (10 comments total)

I just wanted to say how much I loved this FPP's username.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 6:45 AM on October 8, 2015 [5 favorites]

haha, thanks!
posted by listen, lady at 6:59 AM on October 8, 2015

Thank you for posting this. So much in here that resonates with me in terms of therapy, family, identity. I hope she found my hometown of DC a welcoming place! It always has been for me.
posted by capricorn at 7:11 AM on October 8, 2015

Hearing your actual voice (or, worse yet, a video) must be a trip. All I have are some handwritten marginalia in old books (for various reasons, I throw out diaries every few years), and a link to the time I was on TV once. This article brings up all kinds of questions about confronting but also accepting one's younger self, and I have to wonder if I'd be able to do the same, if I somehow stumbled across a similar time capsule. Fascinating!
posted by Mogur at 7:17 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

When I started therapy, I thought good people didn't have bad emotions. And if you were good enough, you wouldn't have to feel jealousy, possessiveness, or fear. And because I felt those things, and I wanted to be a good person, I had to repress them. Now when I feel emotions that I don't like, at least I can say to myself that it is okay, even though all of me is saying it is not okay.

I loved this very much. Thanks for posting it.
posted by divined by radio at 7:18 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

This was really excellent. It brought up a lot of feelings for me, too! Thanks for posting.
posted by Frowner at 8:45 AM on October 8, 2015

This was really wonderful. Thank you for sharing it.
posted by Stacey at 9:35 AM on October 8, 2015

Agree, thank you for posting. I am near (a wee bit older) than the author. Confronting my young 20's self would be uncomfortable, but not because I was unhappy or a bad person, but because I was 23. I have changed. I have matured. I have the benefit and perspective of time.

I think the author made an amazing decision to keep the tapes all these years, dragging them from place to place. Even if I had recordings of personal conversations from my youth, I am not sure I would have thought to keep them once I got married.

(I love the authors little brother in the article.)
posted by AugustWest at 9:52 AM on October 8, 2015

Great post. Thanks for posting.
posted by Rumple at 8:45 PM on October 8, 2015

It's very dusty in here.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:03 PM on October 9, 2015