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chaotic13 said:
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mikkyhill said:
I don't know why Ts don't let you see inside your folder.

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Well.. again "playing the role of a T" I can think of a few reasons why they might like to keep patients out of their medical records.

1. A lot of the information is highly technical and because it relates to a pathology, its likely negatively biased. Like I mentioned earlier normal findings are often left out of these notes. When I stay negatively biased I mean, when reading it about ourselves WE as patients would likely judge it as them saying we are "bad" or "abnormal". When talking about mental or personality issues this would be very hard for anyone to read and not get upset in some way. For example how many of us would like to hear that we are even considered to be of "Average intelligence" let alone be classified as "Below Average Intelligence" Whether it is true or not it is a difficult pill to swallow, no matter how nicely or technically it is written. "Chaotic13 appears to have significant deficits in comprehension and retention of content presented orally." "Comprehension of oral communication requires a slower speech rate with simplified vocabulary." "Frequent recall prompts are necessary for retention of key points."

2. Simply letting the patient read the information would likely result in the patient having a lot of questions. Providing a detailed explanation of the technical jargon, why a particular entry was considered necessary, why one approach was chosen verse another, convincing the patient that entries are not good or bad they are just factual information that can help guide the treatment approach.... bah,,,bah... bah... Reading just one page could derail the focus of therapy for many sessions. Instead therapy becomes about teaching psychology and not about helping the patient manage his/her symptoms.

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I consider it this way--
The patient has a right to a copy of his/her files unless the therapist (or other medical professional) can make a claim that if the patient saw the files it would likely cause SERIOUS harm to the patient. The burden of proof is on the therapist to prove that it would cause serious harm. The medical professional can be taken to court to prove that it can cause SERIOUS harm to do so. FYI folks---a good way around such a T is to have the T send your complete file to another doctor and/or therapist. They can't refuse to send it to another medical professional if they request it, and the other medical professional can give you a copy and/or let you review the file (keep in mind not everything is worth reading though, and might only upset you).

The therapist's job is to help the patient learn about themselves. If they don't feel confident in explaining to an active patient what they meant when they wrote XYZ, then they are not a competent therapist (or other medical professional). Usually though, it seems to be the reading of the file requests happen after they are no longer seeing the patient.
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3. Maybe I am being paranoid here but some of what therapist do is manipulation. They read our mental state, predisposing attitudes, thought patterns and perspectives and then they use this information to elicit certain changes or conditions. For example my T must have detected very early on in my therapy that I had at least some sensitivity to physical proximity. Since she sees a zillion patients a day, she probably made a note of this in my chart some where. I've become aware over time that she uses this to her advantage when trying to get my attention or to drive home certain key points. Now that I've become aware of this, it is less effective. If I would have read about her technique in my chart, it would have lost its effectiveness earlier. T's are not the only ones who capitalize on things like this. In education we use techniques like Brain-based learning where the teacher use emotional reactions and responses to facilitate learning, sharpen attention, or improve motivation. These techniques work best when the learner is unaware of what is going on.

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My therapist doesn't go for tricks and manipulation. I know that many rely on manipulation, but manipulation doesn't build trust in an intelligent person. When anyone has attempted to manipulate me in the past, it was quickly spotted and I certainly didn't hold the attempted manipulator in high esteem. My therapist will respond in a way that works with a certain person, but that's not manipulation, that's trying to help someone in the way that works best for that person. He certainly never tries to provoke me to anger or sadness just to get a reaction out of me over something he *thinks* I should or should not be learning.

I think my therapist, like most good therapists, believes strongly in the teamwork and partnership that therapy really is. It's not just an almighty T that I'm supposed to worship and adore because he is my T. Would you trust a T who manipulated you? How far would that get most people?

I suspect that you weren't really manipulated Chaotic, but rather that you thought it seemed like manipulation; your T was just trying Sometimes I wish my T COULD read my mental state--- but therapists cannot read minds either. Your just more AWARE now of what's going on, but I don't think of that as manipulation in your case Chaotic. It seems like progress that you are more cognizant of your surroundings and your T's behavior than before.

Yay for progress.. of course I have ADHD maybe I'm just not paying attention to my T? --j/k