I let my very first T, who was in a PhD clinical psychology program, record our sessions. She was under strict supervision in the latter part of her training program and needed to have the majority of her patients reviewed by her clinical supervisor to ensure she was engaging in therapy sessions the proper way and so that she can learn from them. It was a brief conversation during our first session and she asked my permission and I told her I didn't mind. That was also before I knew anything at all about T's, about privacy issues in healthcare (especially mental health), or how it could be used and misused even years after the recorded events. Recordings, have the potential to become public or fall into the wrong hands. This is not paranoia, that's just facts. No matter how much I like my current T (and I really, really do), I would never allow myself to be recorded, not for any reason.

I remember feeling a strange curiosity with it, you know, as in "oh wow, someone not only wants to hear what I have to say but wants to record it so they can review with their supervisor to better help me! Cool". I now have a completely different take on it and would never allow myself to be recorded again, not for any reason. While I suspect no ill will whatsoever on the part of that very first T, and I understood the reason behind it (at least in theory if not in practice), I am not near as trusting as I once was. One of the reasons I allowed it in the first place is because I was living in a closely monitored environment at the time and was used to not having any privacy anyway, so it wasn't a large step for me.

If there was never the potential for recorded therapy sessions to be made public, abused, or misused (and potentially shared with those you don't want to have access to your private therapy), then I can see how a recording can be helpful in many ways.