Do therapists miss their clients when they go on vacation?

Tangerine I'm in that boat now. Fairly new to therapy, and we both agreed the timing of my starting vs. her vacation wasn't good. I've got a lot going on in my head....and kinda miss our sessions. But when she comes back, she'll be back for three weeks, then gone again!

I am always relieved to get back from a vacation. I don't really like them.

OP - I do think it is something that therapists expect to happen -that clients are anxious around their vacations. From what I have read, and from questions the therapist asked when I first started seeing them, they are more surprised when clients don't care or miss them.

I tend to think T would be happy to be on vacation and to get a break. However, after each X-mas break, when we each return, she says "I didn't see you for X long. I missed you!" I don't think she was consciously missing me during her trip but, rather, that she felt it had been a long time since we saw each other and she was genuinely happy to see me again and anxious to catch up. However, she did say that she thought of me a few times and wondered how I was doing with my family, etc. Even when neither of us have been on vacation, my T will frequently tell me that something made her think of me during the week-- which I think happens with most people we see on a regular basis. I'm sure this happens more with long-term, regular clients-- for instance, I've been seeing my T once a week for 4 years. By now, a lot of things probably remind her of something we have talked about!

I think it's healthy for them , to focus on themselves when on vacation , unless something reminds them of a client randomly. I would want my t not to think of work.

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Probably not all of their clients, no. I think they might miss some.

I'm sure that some Ts think about some clients during their holidays. And I know that for me, thinking about work is the only way for me to get through a holiday (I am lucky in that my job is also, in part, my main interest, and holidays are always very tough for me, so not working at all for five weeks is a very bleak prospect indeed.) I don't for a second believe that my T thinks about me at all, much less misses me.

Last year, when T was about to leave for his eight-week holiday, I said something like that to him. He pointed out that if I miss therapy, it is because it's meaningful, and it's not exactly rude for me to tell him that our work is important to me.

On a vacation you just don't have that much chance to miss people as you're busy having fun. I do have a T friend whose client died unexpectedly and she misses the client terribly.

No, you shouldn't feel guilty. It's normal for us to feel anxious at times because of our therapist going on vacation. Maybe it brings up some feelings of abandonment. It did for me with several of my therapists I've had over the yrs.

The first therapist I saw was when I was around 20 yrs. old. I had only seen him a couple of times and I learned that he was going on vacation. I panicked and wondered if he was coming back. But he did and I saw him off and on for at least 5 yrs. He was a great therapist.

We have a relationship with our therapists and I think the thinking of is like any relationship. I think about my coworker friends on vacation (but not the work). I think anything we are invested in that is of interest and important to us, we can be reminded of/think about, etc. I know therapists dream about clients, that's not something that is under one's control? I had a conversation with a friend about grapes and now when I go to the grocery store and see the grapes, I think of her and that conversation. Therapists are no different in that regard than we are, just that they may have many clients and think of some more than others, at different times, etc.

And "thinking of" and "missing" are really not the same thing.

i have texted T when he is on vacation and said i missed him and he has said he misses me too.

I was telling t about this thread and he pulls up his phone to show me a vacation photo of a subway car with Munch's "The Silent Scream" painted on the side of it!