Great idea Kacey. Im glad it worked out so well for you. at first when I saw your post I was like oh boy could this ever backfire.

Im real glad it didnt backfire on you in any way..

now you have me hooked and wondering where do you go from here...

she hasnt given you a diagnosis nor treatment plan as of yet..

what happens when during your next appointment and you and the T are in role mode of being stangers, she tells you a diagnosis and treatment plan that you are not prepared for. considering the two of you are being fully face on honest with each other and pretending to be strangers, what if the news about diagnosis and treatment plan is a downer for you.. Now that you have been completely honest there may be other diagnosis's and treatment plans that were not part of your sessions before..

Are you going to be ok if something you dont expect comes up?

another question where do you go from here.. do you and your T keep on this role playing in future sessions..and where will it end so that she can see you not "meghan" during her sessions.

Right now,you know you are meghan and meghan is you but role playing can be addicting and counter productive, and can cause long term and short term mental problems.

my suggestion now that you have been completely honest with each other and have a starting point established, is possibly going in to your next appointment as your self not meghan. this way if the T says anything shocking or unexpected about your diagnosis and treatment plan you both can relate to each other in a familiar tone instead of strangers, you may need the comfort zone of your past sessions and how she in the past helped you through tough times, just be yourself so she can be her self and help you in a way that has worked in the past for you.

Roles are a strange thing. therapists cant really be nurturing, caring and all that for someone that they just met. a client therapist relationship gets developed over time.

Example in work mode if a just met client is upset as the therapist I can only be formal attitude using what I have learned in school and internship to guess what that client needs from me,

but with the client I have seen for a while Im able to use that trust and intuition to guide the client wit a less formal attitude.

your T knows you, but with the role playing she will have to use a more formal attitude and leave out the special little things that you and she have build up over time, that helps you,

Another question - now that you have role played as meghan being honest with your T, is your T going to expect this kind of behavour from you from now on. Around here once the client shows they are capable of being honest with us and talknig with us and working a well thought out plan such as that of role playing, that client is expected to be just as forthcoming and diligent at working in therapy as they have shown they can. (this is where the backfire comes in, we use role playing here both at the crisis center and at the hospital mental ward. We have had clients suggest various role playing ideas, but they are not really prepared to follow through in the future, with using their new found voice and ability to work on problems, as one of the mental ward clients stated "great I come up with a great idea and it comes back to bite me in the *****, It was not for real it was just playing you cant ....)

well you get the idea, clients get very upset sometimes when we therapists follow through with setting future expectations of what we see worknig and getting accomplished through role playing.

suggestion before you and your therapist go any deeper into this role playing spend some time working out the bugs like what happens in the future, what are the future expectations of you by your therapist, what are your future expectations of your therapist. are you both going to continue to keep your distance from each other or what have you.. all those kinds of questions that can lead to this role playing feeling like its come back to bite you, you know where.

so far everything looks great, I hope things continue to be good for you and your therapist.