Hi, Kitty, welcome to PsychCentral (PC).

I'm really glad your T talked with you for the whole session about this, it sounds like he cares and like he sees how important and shocking/difficult the subject was for you. My T raised hers, out of the blue, after I'd been seeing her for 5 or 6 years. . . the second time (I saw her 1978-87 then 1996-2005). I thought the whole thing was ridiculous because she raised it all of $5 :-) I was relieved though, too, that it wasn't more, as I was paying out of pocket too. I was surprised because she'd never raised the amount before and that seemed "not enough" to me, like she was afraid to raise it? At the same time she gave me all kinds of "contracts" and things to sign that I'd never had to before either and they sort of offended me.

How would you "warn" someone? "Oh, by the way, in 3 weeks, mark it on your calendar, we're going to discuss my raising my fees" Could you have "heard" about pay raises at the beginning of therapy when you did not know what was going on and were scared to death, etc.? It is shocking as it is, like the "we have to stop, now" at the end of a good therapy session when you are just getting into stride and feel like you're being shaken awake from an interesting dream.

I hope it wasn't a whole lot. I would think of it sort of like rent increases on one's apartment or one's own pay raises at work?