> I am not going to hide my identity just because I am a therapist who also happens to be ill. I appreciate the concern from some and also the support from those who have encouraged me to be myself. If I decided to hide out it would go against everything I believe in.

I was reading this book the other day:

http://www.amazon.com/Self-Selected-.../dp/0521670241

Velleman is a proff at NYU who writes on the nature of the self and personal identity. I really enjoyed the first essay. One of the things that he discusses is the present, western concept of identity. We seem to have this notion that to 'be yourself' involves expressing everything that is on your mind. That if you don't express everything that is on your mind then you are 'not being yourself' in some way.

But of course we do have a notion of appropriateness. For example, I think that you said something about how it would be inappropriate for you to disclose about your own struggles with mental illness to your clients. One can empathize without engaging in discussion about why one can empathize etc.

I don't think that anyone was saying that you shouldn't discuss your struggle in appropriate settings. What people were concerned with, however, was the appropriateness of posting things that enable Pinksoil to be identifyable to a unique individual IRL given that your clients might well be reading and / or posting here. Directly self disclosing your struggle to them in session is (I think you agree) inappropriate. People were concerned about how much posting a conjunction of identifying information here and details of your personal struggle here was an indirect self disclosure to clients / potential clients that might be similarly inappropriate.

Again: How would you feel if you found that your therapist posted here about struggling with suicide on an almost daily basis and / or self injuring himself? Calling his therapist in a panicked state just before sessions? Would you feel like there was something inappropriate in posting such that you could identify him as a unique individual? Would you feel... Betrayed somehow?

Is that a path you really want to make it likely that you will go down?

How is that not likely to result in your patient becoming therapist to you?