Pieces of Mind or Shit My Therapist Says

Anyone who goes to therapy starts to pick up on these counselorisms (I hesitate to call them therapisms because of the way that word breaks down) that people in mental health fields seem to have. Some are unique to the counselor while others happen across the board. I noticed one recently that I realized I have been hearing for years. It's not exclusively shit my therapist says because I've heard other therapists say it. You may have heard it. It goes something like "There's that acceptance piece."

Therapists love to break your mental issues into pieces. They search for missing pieces to the puzzle that is your problem. They point out when you find pieces they have been searching for. Sometimes, I think they just throw an exclamation about a piece out there so it feels like you've hit on something big. "There's that tolerance piece, Michelle. Bravo, dude!" I've heard it so much I even catch myself saying it. "Here I am, stumbling around in a miasma of panic searching for that chill the fuck out piece."

I have some really great people backing me up in my OCD and panic disorder struggles. I think they really want to help me, so I poke fun at the language knowing it's just that therapist piece. They all get similar training, read similar books and come out with similar vocabularies.