Why do Ts ask to see s-i?

I'm pretty clear on why they DON'T ask to see it. I'm wondering why they DO ask to see it.

T1 has been inconsistent. Most weeks he doesn't look, notice, or ask about s-i. Last week he asked about it and asked to see it. One of the things he noticed was an incidental burn from the oven.

We never talk about it really. He doesn't try to make me stop. I'm wondering if he's looking for something that I'm not aware of? Is there some sort of injury that would be a tipping point for a T to take action?

I would assume they'd check every now and then, make sure it is not getting worse or "different" and maybe if they thought you were going through particular stress at a given time, see if you were coping as well as "usual" or better/worse, etc.

I have no idea, my T has never asked to see

probb to check the degree of it caz obviously will reflect ur state of mind! tc

My T asked when I first told me that I started again.. He said he wanted to see just in case it needed medical attention. When I assured him that it didn't he backed off. He hasn't asked me about it since.

My T's never asked and I wouldn't show it to him either. I'm too ashamed.

If they ask for health-risk reasons- I know far more about medical stuff than my T does and he's well aware of that. Also most of it is done where normal ppl can't see it- so I would need to get undressed before him and I'm pretty sure it's illegal for him to ask me to do that.

Yeah mine has never asked to see either.

my T asked if i still SI but has not asked to see it and has not brought it up sence she asked

My T has never asked to see, but I asked if I could show her some of my scars (trying to get past some of the shame) and she was willing to look at whatever I wanted to show her.

We talk about it only because I have asked my T if we can discuss it. Mostly it's more about what I was feeling, why I do it, etc. No graphic details or anything.

I imagine a T asking would be to make sure nothing requires medical attention or to try and judge the severity of the SI (a little vs a lot).

Mine has never asked. I would have showed her today - I've had an idea for a tattoo for my arm, I showed her the sketch - and would have demonstrated how I want it to wrap around, but it kind of didn't come up.. Maybe I'll just show her when it's done. If she's interested.

Mine have never asked to see. He just always asks if I cared for it, if it needed medical attention etc.

SPECULATION:

Even if T doesn't want to make a big thing of SI, they don't want to pretend it's not happening. One of the big ideas of therapy is to face facts squarely.

If you keep your scars covered up, there's a danger that it becomes a "secret", and that will damage the connection between you and T.

If you are ashamed to show T your scars, that's a burden that weighs you down.

Wouldn't it be a relief to know that there is one person in the world you can show them to?

mine has never asked to see either. i would never show anyway. she does sometimes ask about it though.

The only time my old t ever asked to see was when my arms were all bandaged when I had the 80 stitches. He was pretty insistent. Then he did offer to help me bandage them back up but I was too embarrassed so I said no.

I always ask to see. I want to see how deep they are, how serious it is, etc. Cutting is like any other symptom that needs to be monitored. However, if the client refuses, we talk about that. If it's linked to shame, fear of judgement, etc, and process what it's about.

I have never been asked by a therapist to see, but I would have refused if they had asked.

Stormy, an honest question . . . What would it matter if the s-i were more or less serious? As long as it's not sui then nothing about the T relationship changes, right? There's nothing T can do to help me help myself. At least nothing has been offered. I mean -- it's like my running. I can run and run and run and run as a coping strategy and there will be nothing done to stop it unless I keel over from some physical malady.

Obviously I'm angry. But I'm also very, very confused. I'm not stupid -- but I don't "get" this.

Again it's a symptom to monitor. So it does matter if it's more or less serious. Is it getting worse? Does this need more of my attention or less for right now? Is what we're talking about working or hurting? If it's getting worse, deeper, more freqeuent, more risky, then I am more likely to check in more and ask more questions about mood/suicidal thoughts, etc. We are liable to our clients and at my agency we are required to ask. The client and decline and that's fine, but we document it. It may be inconsistent from him because typically he lets it go and trusts you will verbalize worsening symptoms. Perhaps a client earlier in the day/week had seriously harmed themself. That puts it in the forefront of our mind and makes us feel like we should be more aware of this symptom.

Suzzie - ?

I chose to show my T my old SI scars. I don't know if I made her uncomfortable, but she gave about a two-word response and then changed the topic.