[ThingWithFeathers]

Does your t remember what was said last session (or even many sessions ago) or do you have to remind them? Also wondering if your t understands you or do you have work to get your t to get where you're coming from and what you're saying?

I know ts have a lot of clients and I was curious about their ability to remember and understand everything a client says.

[musinglizzy]

Mine does. I see her twice a week. She also remembers Emails in between. I'm really impressed by that. Sometimes she remembers things about me better than I do!

[magicalprince]

Hmm yeah it's rare that she forgets much except minor details. Even stuff from over a year ago, it's impressive. Though I remember my very bad ex T would constantly ask questions I had already answered before. It was really offputting :/

[stopdog]

The first one does not -she probably does not remember my name from week to week. I think her brain is a sieve. With large drain holes. She rarely understands me.
I have from time to time asked her if she forgot to take her Aricept, but she seemed to think I was kidding.

The second one does remember and does understand more than the first one.

[junkDNA]

he remembers a lot. sometimes it surprises me

[iheartjacques]

Most of the sessions. Well, most of what I say anyway. But of course after two years, things get a little repetitive.

she remembers damn near everything I say. SHe remembers things I said that I have forgotten about. And she brings up dreawms still that I had 3 years ago. She's amazing like that. Now if she could just remembe whawt SHE says. that would be golden. she is always forgetting **** she says herself and it drives me crazy.

[nottrustin]

T remembers most things there are a few things that she has forgotten though from one meeting to another. I don't remember every thing I say either so I don't expect her to. I ran into her this afternoon at the store. We were discussing what we were doing tomorrow. Then she said aren't you son's friends going to to your house for a bbq and fire. I had totally forgotten I had told her that last week.

As far as understanding me again she does probably 95% of the time. Usually when she doesn't it is because it is a subject I am uncomfortable and beating around the bush and giving very little details.

She does, but I am her only client so I kind of hope she would.

Originally Posted by stopdog

The first one does not -she probably does not remember my name from week to week. I think her brain is a sieve. With large drain holes. She rarely understands me.

The second one does remember and does understand more than the first one.

I have seen a few of your posts and i am curious as to why you keep seeing the first as you seem to be less than impressed with her why pay.....?

As for the original post mine remembers most things i guess i dont really ask if he remembers and i have such a hard time staying present during sessions that as far as understanding me goes i think i make it hard for him as i cant speak most of the time.

[VelvetRevolver]

He does remarkably well! It's pretty impressive!

My ex-T was a bit forgetful at times. She also didnt understand a lot of what I said. I felt quite ignored, she often didn't respond to what I was trying to say. I told her I felt like this, and she kind of ignored that too. I look back and I think that for some reason she just didn't have what it takes to be a therapist. It wasn't anything about me. I experience something completely different with my new T. She really pays attention to what I say, she is really responsive. I feel understood. I think that with ex-T, the feeling of not being understood really got under my skin and brought me down. Are you feeling that your T doesn't understand you?

[Chummy]

Yes, she does. I know she write down notes after the session, but still, she also remembers things I told weeks, months of even years ago. It's surprises me sometimes. That she can remind so much. It shows that she really listens. She also understands most of what I tell her.
Previous T's, they sometimes as the same questions every time and they don't remember i've told them in the previous session.

[Tearinyourhand]

he remembers the most obscure details and effortlessly slips them into our work. it feels organic and not clinical.

[LindaLu]

This thread is kinda sad. My T makes zero effort at resuming ideas or issues from last session. I dont think her memory is good at all, especially for details, or more likely she just doesn't care. However she's very good at drawing conclusions about themes A and B that recur. It makes me feel like I'm wasting her time and she expects something else of me (she says that's just projection). Details and stories are important. Seems they should matter to therapist too.

[atisketatasket]

She remembers the big things. Has to be reminded of minor details, which is fine. As for understanding, I started therapy with a big warning to her not to assume she understood me. And so far, she's been very good at double-checking that she's "getting" what I'm expressing.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

She remembers much. But she doesn't model perfection and shouldn't.

[luvnola]

I've had t's on both ends. A previous t recalled everything, even details and even things I didn't remember telling her. It always amazed me bc she never took notes during session. Another more recent ex t couldn't remember squat. It was so frustrating. I mean, I could tell her something at the beginning of session and 20 minutes later she would have forgot. And then I've had t's who were somewhere in the middle. They'd remember the big stuff or the gist of something, but not the details. I feel the same aobut the t's understanding me. A few did, a few didn't have a clue.

[stopdog]

Originally Posted by eden1515

I have seen a few of your posts and i am curious as to why you keep seeing the first as you seem to be less than impressed with her why pay.....?

I am not impressed with any of them. I no longer try to make her useful in way that would require her to pay attention or understand me. Explaining myself more to her never worked. I now use her only to stay back. I tell her things and her job is just to sit there. I don't usually let or want her to talk but she is reasonably good at not trying to get in my real life -she stays back well.

Pretty much. I don't expect him to remember every detail. Heck, I can't remember every detail. But he does very well. We don't structure our sessions in such a way that one session leads directly to the next; they aren't generally purposefully connected, so it isn't something I pay much attention to actually. It's not like we start with "Last week we ended out discussion with X, so let's pick it up right there." In fact, I can only think of a few times that he very deliberately went back to what we were discussing the time before. Generally we let things evolve very organically.

[ThisWayOut]

I think most of my T's have remembered the stuff that was important. I think I've lucked out with most of my T's. This last one I felt understood me the easiest though. I didn't have to explain certain things to her. I'm not sure if it's because I was more up-front about my inner workings, or she simply picked up on it and was good at expressing it overtly, but I felt like she got me faster than other T's have. There were some things she voiced that surprised me because I had always had to explain them to previous T's.

The T I am going back to I think understands me and remembers quite a lot, but she is less overt about expressing that understanding... She also saw me at a time of near-constant crisis though, so much of our time together was spent around support and trying to glue all the broken pieces back together. Most recent ex-t saw me whan I was significantly more "together".

[justdesserts]

He remembers most things, and if he doesn't, when I start talking about them again, he remembers almost immediately.

[gayleggg]

Mine seems to remember quite a bit. Rarely do I have to remind him of stuff.

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[Ad Intra]

I never expected her to; that's what notes are for.

[Leah123]

My therapist has such an excellent memory of our past sessions down to the little details that I feel it's really helped my therapy: I feel more cared for and secure as a result.

Her memory isn't perfect, just last week actually she mixed up our last session with the one before, but wasn't feeling well, so the contrast was sharp.

In general, I find I do a lot better with her because of her strong memory than I did with a previous more distracted therapist.