I don't really leave it all behind. Therapy does affect me in my life outside of T's office. I think we want it to so that we can practice changed ways of being in all environments. When doing really intense work (e.g. trauma), you do need to be able to be at least somewhat functional after the session. T can help you get ready to face the real world at the end of your session, and you can use your own coping skills too. Let your T know if you need extra help to get ready to leave the session. But it usually is that you are not 100% after such a session, and sometimes just allowing yourself some slack can be helpful. Like if you have to go immediately to work, to try to do tasks that are manageable rather than stressful. Or to schedule your session at the end of the day if you think it will be really intense. Or to just allow yourself to be jittery or unfocused or tearful (or whatever) without beating yourself up about it. You usually have a full week to come to terms with and process the session, then you are ready to do more at your next session. (If you're not ready, one week later, then you can request more of a supportive session with T.) Journaling between the sessions can help get the feelings and thoughts out instead of bottling them up again. I have definitely had sessions that affected me outside of therapy, and it can be hard, but it may be part of healing too, as the really deep and intense stuff can't be felt and confined to just one hour a week inside T's office. Recently, my H and I had a couples session with T, and there were parts that were upsetting and intense, and afterwards I felt so vulnerable that I didn't want to see my H even several days later at our legal meeting. I emailed T about that and he said he would watch out for me at the meeting. (Interestingly, my H had told T he was having the same problem,which made T consider a possible postponement.) So sometimes, communicating with T outside session can be helpful if it all gets to be too much.

If your T has recommended a model where you don't do much processing outside of session, then can you ask him/her how he envisions that you would do this?