Paying for Emails to T

I think it is fine for a therapist to charge for the time they spend on services to you. My daughter's T charges for any phone call over 10 minutes. My worry with the unlimited emails for $100 is that if the therapist allowed that, he/she would quickly become overtaken with emails that would take up a ton of his time. (I doubt my T would do this as he practices excellent self care.) In some ways, that policy of unlimited (substantive) emails for a price suggests a therapist who is unable to set boundaries or a therapist who has very few clients and lots of time on his/her hands (a therapist new to practice?). I know my therapist would be unable to offer this service as he has a full practice. It's hard enough to get an appointment with him. If a therapist needs to charge for emails, I think it would be better to do it on a per email basis so they don't get overrun.

I think they need to limit the number of clients if they don't have enough time in the day to return calls to reschedule appointments, etc. It can lead to burn out if they regularly allow their work to take up their free time. My T does not have the time during the day to answer the calls as he has a full load. He told me that he can spend a couple of hours a night just returning phone calls about rescheduling and cancellations. I could see that having to spend one's leisure time on business like that would be a drain. My T recently hired a scheduler who returns all the calls and organizes his schedule. He said that now he can't understand how he did all this for himself before. Plus, now he gets evenings free. That all adds up to a well-rested T in a good frame of mind, which is win-win for everyone.

got a link for the article?

It just occurred to me that if lots of t's charged for email, some might even hire research assistants to answer the emails. It is just good business sense. Just another reason to be wary of therapy by email....

http://kspope.com/ethics/email.php

Wow, I feel so lucky. My T allows me to send as many emails as I want, in fact he often encourages me and reassures me that it is truly ok with him. It took us quite a while to figure out the most effective way to work together. He says I seem to process things so much better when I write it out. Often I journal but many times I feel the need to send the things I have written away from me in a way. Very rarely do I get a response and I am okay with that. If I feel I need a response I need to ask for one. On occasion he will read an email and feel that something needs to be adressed and he will call me. When he calls we will talk for 1 minute or 45 minutes, it all depends upon how it goes. He never charges me for the calls or email, but I appreciate fully that he is busy and has a life so I never expect him to respond unless it is especially urgent. I certainly appreciate how generous he is with his time and feel grateful that I have a T that is willing and able to work with me in the way I need.

Murray, thank you very much for sharing your experience with me.
That is also the way I process through therapy!
I still work while in session, but in session, I would rather absorb what my T has to offer. I can't usually think through things until I am alone and my head is silent.

Because I have DID, my alters are usually all trying to be aware and listen for T to talk with them. So I have too many internal voices, all with their own points of view, trying to find a way to interact with T at the same time.

When I am finally alone at home, I am able to think about what happened in session and process through the feelings and emotions. It is very tough work. Without email, I wouldn't have been able to make it through the last year without going into the hospital.