"How are you doing today?"
"Uh... I'm fine."
"You hesitated, let's try this again. How are you doing today?"
"I'm in a lot of pain."
"Physical pain or mental?"
"Both?"
"I don't want you to ask me questions, I want you to answer mine so now, is it physical pain or mental pain?"
"Both."
"What is your physical pain?"
"It's a pain that makes me feel like I being stabbed. It's in my head, in my body..."
"What about your mental pain?"
"It's hard to explain."
"Do your best."
"It's a pain that never goes away. It takes over my mind, it's takes over my body. It's a type of pain that makes me not want to go to sleep but it also makes me not want to wake up. It makes me feel like I mean nothing, like I'm a piece of paper in a garbage can full of diamonds. It makes me feel ugly."
"What do you think you could do to help this pain?"
"I could smile. I could lie and tell everyone that I'm okay and I feel so much better than I have before. I could act okay. You know what, ask me again. Let's go back to the start of our conversation and ask me again how I'm doing."
"Alright, how are you doing?"
"I'm fine. Actually, I am more than fine, I am great. I am having a great day but... oh... look at the time. Our session is over. I'm really glad we got to talk about this, it really helped. Thank you so much. I will see you for our next session in a couple of weeks. Have a great day!"
