The intake was very straight forward. I never did one before. She said can I contact your previous T , I said no. She said you have a right to your privacy under hippa but may I ask why. I said the simple answer is I don't want your perception skewed by any of her assessments. This is a fresh start for me and therefore you need to form your own opinions and I will tell you if I agree with them or not. She just looked at me. Haha. She asked why I'm there I told her a bunch of situational things I needed help with and I'm sure as we move forward other s h I t will come up. She looked at me again. Haha. She said... your very straight forward. I told her I can be at times and told her I want her to be all the time. Another look. She said and how are you functioning. I said well let me see, I already did 8 years of therapy, I know how to compartmentalize, I take care of somebody else's 11 week old twins for a living, and I know how to be an adult. I told her 8 years of psychodynamic therapy has taught me how to detect maternal transference and quickly move on from it and it's also taught me to know when somebody is blowing smoke up my skirt. Another look. Score! Jersey- 1 T-0. I think she got the impression she may have her work cut out for her. She's gonna earn her pay.

It's good you said that she seems nice because her line of questioning about contacting a former therapist sounds like, "You have a right to your privacy under HIPAA, but may I ask why you don't want it violated?" I've only had pdocs ask to speak to therapists. Never had a therapist ask to speak to a previous one.