T is going to be my Prof.....

So i just got my schedule for the winter term SKW210(my T's name).....i was just ...taken aback...what do i do? I need the course as all the first years need the course, and he is the only instructor....i quit therapy with him... last week, well mutually we were just done, and i no longer need therapy...but..I'm REALLY nervous, i mean it's going to be really weird...what if he treats me different....? What if he doesn't??? I don't know what to expect...but what if i have a really hard time opening up in class..i mean how can i be myself...in class with him being there is he going to analyse me during class...i mean he is a Therapist after all...i mean i feel like people will know...or something...and maybe if they know and i get good marks they will think it's because i know him or something....

I'm extremely manic actually have been for quite some time, and i feel like he will know...too...i guess I'm just looking for...has anyone been in a situation like this?

First things first: What's the class? Is it a seminar, or a large intro?....

It's a 4 month long class................

It just occurred to me...it could be longer then 4 months...what if i take it next semester too..and the one after ...oh god..it could be a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, but what KIND of class is it: lecture? small group? practicum....?

think of this as the next step in therapy, treating a therapist like a teacher,,, then you can take the advanced course , and treat him like a person~!

life is like a box of chocolates,, eat one~

best wishes,, Gus

I can see how you would feel nervous about this. He is still bound by professional confidentiality standards. My T happens to be a member of my church and at church we nod and say, "hello" and that is it. In his office I bear my soul and I don't think he is watching me at church for symptoms. He is practicing his spirituality. That is his time for himself. Your former T will be more worried about the curriculum of the class and making sure the material is taught and presented the way it needs to be for students to understand it. If you have to have private meetings with him for the purposes of the class, he should be able to keep it to the subject of the class. It wouldn't be a bad idea to mention your discomfort if you have to have private meetings with him for the class and set soem boundaries. He is a therapist. He understands boundaries. I hope that helps.

I work in an area with scanty population. Former patients are my fellow chruch members, my kids school counselors, etc. Nope, they don't prepare you for this, but I see my job as getting my patients ready for the day when these things happen. Admittedly, these are FORMER patients and we get introduced as "I know her from work" or " she was on my rehab team". Most of the time, I don't continue thinking about our therapy, unless it is to admire how much they have grown. people do grow, you know.
If I were you, lay low in class. If you cna't really separate T the prof from T the therapist and find issues sliding from one arena to the other, please take it up with him. I had to drop a class because my T was teaching it, and I find now, I desparately needed to have taken that course. Just don't let it wreck your therapy. maybe take a therapy break fora bit? Hugggggssss

The biggsest issue i think right now, it the fact that he has....seen me naked (crying, breakdown, having panic attacks) in his office...so..when i see him i feel the same shyness that you would feel as if someone had seen you naked.It's a smallish class maybe 20 people i mean i cant really hide away....and i can't not take the class, honestly i know realistically it will most likely be fine and i will get over it...BUT a huge part of me worries ALOT, because the term doesn't start till January....that means from now until January....I'm going to physically sick with worry....and i am wondering...if i should call my pdoc...she told me to call her for anything..anytime....she's one of the few that actually prescribes medications..but cares enough to actually do a bit of therapy...

couple of thoughts, one I know darn well when my T locks her office at the end of the day she leaves all her clients "in there". Even if I were to bump into her on the sidewalk as she was leaving I would be "just me" she would have no thoughts bout our therapy together. To me it is part of having healthy boundaries as a T. If it is uncomfortble for you I would call him and ask for a "session" where you two could talk about it. This is not something you had known was going to happen when you worked with him or even when you ended therapy. Having a conversation about it IMO is important. Personally, for me, I would feel best asking for that conversation to happen in his therapy office rather than office hours as a prof because it is an emotional topic.

Don't worry. He will be professional. Act as if you do not know him, if that's what makes you most comfortable. It's a different setting and you are not vulnerable in class like you were in therapy. Remember that. It doesn't matter how he saw you, he's bound by professionalism not to bring it up or hold it against you in any way.

When you mentioned your pdoc does a bit of therapy, I thought of mine, too, for the same sort of reason: he helps me see what my therapist is likely doing to help me...he'll let me talk to him about my therapist, and will refrain from second-guessing him.

So, I like that idea a lot.

I am glad for the information about the size of the class (size really does matter....such a tired joke....) Because the class is fairly small, it is more of an issue than a lecture-size class. Still, 20 will give you some anonymity. With that small of a class, the dynamics of the class will act to sweep you up in a flow that will diminish some of your concern about the relationship with your therapist...It'll have a pace that sweeps you all into it.

And I agree with other posters--that your therapist will be focused on attending to his own role as prof and to his responsibilities to the class as a whole. In any individual work, he'll be careful of the relationship. You terminated with him a week ago, right? So there will be a little time before the term starts? And a little time to fill in the time opened up by ending therapy...maybe that will help some, too? This situation, I know--I am absolutely certain of it--would send me into a panic, too...But I also think my panic would last about three days...then I'd start to be more of a problem-solver about it. Maybe you'll have that lucky grace, too...I hope the worry will become more manageable...I am so sorry this is so upsetting now.

You know, you guys are right.I am sure it's going to be fine, i mean the moment i met him i liked him, he is a good person, as well as a good therapist. That's going to help because well that's what I'm going to be doing, therapy...so...i suppose who better to learn from then someone i already had a great experience with, someone i know is excellent at what he does. I'm still a bit nervous but, hopefully that can be channeled into excitement to go back next term, and i can use it as a kick in the butt to try hard and study hard.Thanks all for all the comments, i think i just needed a bit of reasurance..and possibly the day to think on it haha.