Why is it that when i think about my past i get depressed? its been years and im over it, but my shrink wants to know about it.

Not yet over it: If you still feel depressed when you think about your past, you're not yet over it. Healing from most anything is possible though. The process includes exploration, grieving, and gradual acceptance of what has happened along with its impact on your current life. Your "shrink" probably wants to to help you move beyond depression, plus building on the strengths you've developed as a person.

Do you : Feel down after thinking about your past because it was painful? Perhaps your therapist believes you are avoiding it or that dealing with past issues will help you to overcome an emotional or spiritual obstacle. Be well.

Not "over it": While not thinking about your past (avoidance) may seem like a good way to deal with it, you are not working through whatever issues there are that cause u to feel depressed when u talk about them. Your "shrink" wants to talk about ur past to help define the source of problems so that u don't repeat the same cycles again. This happens a lot in inter-personal relationships. Talk! it gets better!

What is over?: Hopefully your shrink doesn't want to know about it but only believes you need to. If being over it you mean that you do and have come to terms with it - assert yourself. If you mean you've only stopped thinking, consider the benefits from the coming to terms part. Then, if you think not, assert yourself. Question the shrink & respectfully present your views. That's the whole point. It's for you!

?PTSD: Depression is often even current illness with the recurrences triggered by similar events. If underlying your depression is post traumatic stress disorder, then even though you may have dealt with the trauma previously, there are several possibilities. One is that the first go around at healing the trauma was not quite adequate. The other is what i believe to be often more true, and that is that we do not truly completely heal traumatic wounds. I think they may even be called wounds because wounds scab over. Unfortunately, when depression sets in again, it forces us to think again about the past. When that happens those wounds are sometimes ripped open and bleed again. From a clinical point of view it is often very difficult to determine which of the two possible scenarios is taking place in a given patients depression. Your therapist will need to be very discerning to figure out which of these situations is going on with you. Depending upon what we refer to as character strength, sometimes it is best to leave trauma buried.. At other times, if the trauma is clearly causing you to act out in ways that you realize are against your basic character and moral values, then it is sometimes necessary to dig it out if you are strong enough psychologically to do so. If you are not psychologically able to do so, then you will know that you need to work on character issues before you start dealing with trauma issues. As one master of trauma psychology said that a meeting i attended, the first four steps of therapy always have to deal with character issues. It is only in the fifth step that trauma issues should be dealt with. Please discuss this with your therapist and come up with a treatment plan to suit your needs so as to not inflict further harm and to encourage further growth. Best wishes to you and your recovery.