Therapist uses 10-15 minutes of 50 minute session for making future appointment?

Hey everyone,

I do not know if this is normal. I have had 6 sessions with this therapist.
And i feel like we spend an awfull lot of time speaking over future appointments, when she has time, will have time in the future, about the insurance, what to fill out, what to do if i cannot make it to therapy.

i know that this is important. But one session really almost was JUST about paper stuff, I´m sure, could have been handeled very much faster in the last 5 minutes. maybe i´m just too impatient.

but i feel like this stuff really clouds over the therapy-issues and makes it harder to see if she´ll be able to help me. especially because, she doesn´t do it at the end or beginning but sometimes in the middle of the session and then i have trouble finding my thread again

By all means, talk to her about this. Your concern is very reasonable. Perhaps save those scheduling discussions for the last few minutes of the session, then if she is dawdling, you won't lose time you paid for since you already had your session. It might help spur her to be efficient if her slowness means she is running into the next client's time. I schedule the next appointment at the end of each of my sessions. T opens up the appointment program on his computer and sees when his openings are and I tell him what days I am available, and he makes a match for us. It only takes a couple of minutes. Once you get your insurance sorted out, it seems you wouldn't have to go over it each time. Is there something unusual with your insurance that T is having trouble with? Is she a brand new therapist? It sounds like she is, since she is inefficient with all the business stuff. Someone might even say she is unconsciously uncomfortable doing therapy and so is spending time on other stuff to relieve her anxiety. Ha ha, that's a joke! Good luck.

hey sunrise, thanks for the answer.
well no she is not very young and my insurance is not causing trouble.it´s just that she spends an awfull lot time talking about it and explaining things over and over,
looking up her appointments or other things.... i felt maybe she doesn´t want to do therapy and is shielding time? i don´t know. she´s very relaxed, maybe it´s just her way of being....

oh dear that sounds rather unprofessional. especially interrupting a session to talk about scheduling! definitely talk to her about it because it doesn't seem like it should take all that time every session. maybe you could bring her a copy of your weeks schedule every week and ask her to look at it and phone you when she's picked a time that suits her too.

How long can scheduling take, even if insurance is an issue? Shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes, tops. It just isn't that complicated. That's why I've always liked have a T with a secretary. All that bill paying, scheduling, insurance garbage is taken care of by someone other than my T and outside of my session time.

If she's interrupting your session to talk about insurance or appointment times, then she is waaaay too preoccupied with other stuff while she's supposed to be engaged with you.

Her style sounds *too* casual.. all taking up all kinds of time to talk about future appointments, and repeating herself etc.

It sounds to me that you already recognize that you are not getting what you need out of this therapy. If you need validation for looking for another therapist - you can count me in! You are the "customer," and you have to make sure that you are getting what you're paying for. There is no requirement that you stay with this therapist.

You have raised a couple of issues about this T. Maybe your gut is telling you that you've selected the wrong one? I would try to talk with her about it. I always have a check all written out and ready to go, so the clerical part takes literally a minute or two, that's it. Maybe if you streamline it yourself, she will see that it isn't something she needs to worry about and she can focus mainly on therapy.

for some mental health treatment providers and mental health agencies this is normal for others it isnt, my therapist spends this much and more on scheduling the next appointment if during my appointment I seemed to not be fully grounded and able to understand /remember whats going on. I also have a history of needing to change / cancel my appointments after they have already been scheduled due to work schedules and such.

we finally settled on a set day and time every week so that I can plan my work around my appointments and I can call in if I dont think I need that appointment. on my therapists side she automatically sets that day and time aside for me. now we dont need to have lengthy discussions about when should we meet again, synching our schedules and other life interference with appointment type issues.

maybe you and your treatment provider can talk about setting a set day and time so thaat you no longer have to go through that 10-15 minute scheduling discussion every appointment.

hello and thank you for your comments.

i live in germany so the good part is, that the insurance pays fully for the therapy. the bad part is, that therapists´ free appointments for new patients are limited because of it (everyone got health insurance) so it can be quite challenging to find a T that does not have a waiting list of 3-6 months.
so it´s not so easy :/