I'm sorry if I am posting a senistive subject. I am still getting used to posting to a board and reaching out to other people for help is very hard for me.

?Does anyone know who owns the therapy notes, what happens to them after a patient quits therapy?

About 23yrs ago, I was in therapy with the same T for 10yrs. When I quit, I asked him about my file. He said that he had copied it and kept a copy at his home, as well as, in the group that he practiced.
He said he had been writing a book and was going to include some of the notes plus the personal drawings and creations that I had made during the last 10 years. He was a former publisher and when I started therapy had only been a T for a year. He said that he would change my name in the book to protect my privacy. That he had been compiling "interesting" cases and working on this book. The book was not intended for the medical community but rather as a book for general public. It souned sort of like a self-help, enteraining "can you believe this" book. He had kept all his publishing contacts in Chicago and they thought that that the book would sell. That there wasn't anything that I could do about it

Anway, it really messed me up for a long while - I just felt violated in some way. I believe this is the first time I've even been able to acknowledge it. I put it out of my mind and any T that I went to after that I insisted that there be no "notes". That was a deal breaker for many new therapits that I sought out - never told them why but just insisted.

I've quit therapy again after 3 years and I want a copy of her diagnosis because of SSDI purposes - I don't even know if she will be doing therapy when renewal time comes up and she is by herself so no practice for the documentation to stay around.

So my questions are:
? Who owns the therapy notes, what are done with them when you quit
?should I be able to get something from my therapist with my diagnosis, I always paid in cash with no receipt.

I'm not going right back into therapy so she can't send them to a "new" T.

I would welcome any information on this subject. If I need to do something different with my posts, just let me know.

Thanks much,
Lu