Oh I think therapists do think about their clients... One of my best friends in real life is a psychologist, and she certainly thinks about hers. I know because she talks about them! Not in a way that would reveal their identities, but when she and I are talking about work she'll tell me about interesting cases she has and clients that she likes, etc. But she clearly has balance. When we're out to dinner together, we're talking much more about our own relationships (hers, mine, our mutual friends, etc.). But she definitely talks about her clients. She says it was her "calling" in life to be a therapist and that she'd wanted to since she was a teenager. I like that about her and suspect she is a good one. She says that in therapy you learn to be as "present" as possible in a session so that you don't obsess over your clients when they're gone. She says if she's spending a lot of time thinking about any one particular client after hours, then she'll try to figure out what about that person's story is affecting her so much and what it means about her. Interesting stuff. It's must be such a fascinating line of work. She has her own therapist too to talk about all her issues. :-)

Pinksoil, there's no doubt in my mind that your therapist thinks about you. Especially after that last session! You should go in on crutches next week complaining about his stairs.

Sidony