I havent been around here for a while, but I hope it's ok to comment. Your post really stood out for me because my T introduced a "therapy contract" a couple of months ago. I have been with him nearly for years and he is CBT. Up until the beginning of this year I have been able to freely email him between sessions. It helped me process things between sessions, and was a way to stay connected to him. Then one day in January he presents me with this contract and tells me he is introducing it to help me feel safe in therapy (I have huge trust issues) and so that I talk to him because I was saying more in my emails that I was to him face to face.

After 2 months, this damn contract is still on my agenda every session because it hurts and bothers me so much. No matter how many times we go over it, the outcome is still the same- I am in pain, and now he wont help between sessions. I also cannot call him in a crisis- he has made a crisis intervention plan- basically that I must call the crisis team or go straight to hospital. He has told me that if I call him he will ignore my calls. I even asked him last session "would you prefer it if I died rather than call you if I am struggling". He told me it was an unfair question then spouted a load of psychobabble and I zoned out.

I dont actually have to sign the contract but everytime I say or do something that's not in it, he says "Chronic...this is violating our therapy contract or Chronic, this is not in our contract". I get so mad at him. I just want to shout **** the stupid contract- you are causing unbearable pain! I still violate it though- send him emails when I really need to, and sometimes I dont talk to him about things I should be. I know it sounds ****ed up but I need to regain some power somehow. I feel controlled now he has put this in place.

You mentioned you're in DBT- are you borderline? I am and my T tells me he is trying to get me to stick to rules/boundaries because I don;t and always break them. I hate him for it. He tells me I havent done anything wrong, but why now after all this time put the contract in place. Maybe your Ts superviser is trying to teach him how to set boundaries- but honestly he could do a much better job of it.

Sorry for going on, but I wanted you to know that I SO feel your pain- the rejection, abandonment, fear. I don't understand why they change rules at will. I hope you have a strong enough relationship with your T to tell him how these changes are making you feel