Has anyone requested their therapy records or notes

Sorry for all the questions. Thanks

I have not because I already know they won't give them to me. T will say it will cause more harm than good, and it would put my safety at risk.

Yes, I requested records from a therapist I had as a teenager. She declined! I gave her another chance and she told me to focus on the present not the past. I found that very condescending. I left her a negative yelp review.

I was under the impression that if you ask for them, legally they have to give them to you. They can be sanctioned if they don't. Or maybe that's just where I live?

I don't want mine, and doubt I ever will, but my advice is if you do get them, have a professional there to discuss them with you. I would imagine they could be upsetting, especially to non-mental health professionals.

Those are the last things I ever want to see.

I'm afraid I wouldn't want to see mine either. Too disturbing, I'm sure.

I have. I needed it for writing my complaint. When I got them, I wrote an amendment to every piece of the record I objected to and wanted to dispute. In California, you, as a patient, are allowed to do so and the therapist is supposed to include your amendment of your records into your file and disclose it to the third party along with the records whenever such disclosure is required. Basically, this law gives you an opportunity to tell your side of the story.

If you ask for it where I live, they have to give it to you legally. But I know my ex-T has no notes for most of what we did as it was unpaid and hushhush. The part out of the clinic is probably really basic or made up.

No, but I do want to. I'm too scared to ask, but not scared to see them. More a curiosity than anything else.

Here's what therapy notes are and how therapy notes work: Psychotherapy Notes and HIPAA | Psych Central - Part 11

The therapist can take notes for themselves, like you would writing about therapy in a journal for yourself and they don't have to shows those to you. If you are self-pay and no insurance notes/diagnoses, etc. are kept/needed then you might not get anything if you ask a T for their "notes". Formal medical notes in a hospital or treatment group situation, etc. may/may not be very "accurate" to our own point of view; most of them are for the insurance company's benefit so they will pay.

My T doesn't take notes while I am there but I'm guessing she does it after I've left because she remembers everything. I've actually been meaning to ask her to confirm this for the last few weeks but I don't want to sound nosy, but I will probably ask at some point. But I'd never have the balls to ask to see them however I would be very curious and would definitely look if I could.

My T keeps notes she writes in during session. I have asked her what she was writing when she was writing and she has shown me. I've only done this a couple of times because I was curious as to what I said prompted something to be written. She also 'translates' them onto charts for insurance billing purposes, way more generic/cold. If I asked for her 'notes' I would be given the ones that were officially charted not her personal in session notes.

i requested my former Ts notes but that was bc of a lawsuit. i read the first sentence of one note and stopped and gave them back to my attorney. she read all that stuff instead of me, thank god

I have not, but have thought about t. However, I think it would upset me to read through some of them.

Thanks...but where does it say they don't have to show session notes to you? I see where it says that they don't have to show them to anyone else, so I'm missing the key point somewhere in the article. (Some days I just can't read.)

No. 1 has in her contract that you can request to see her notes at any time and you will get them. No. 2 in hers says that "in general" clients can request them; the request can be denied, but that denial can also be appealed.

I've said it before in another thread, but I had to look through some of an ex-therapist's notes for a good reason. (It had to do with a health insurance issue and me talking about it in therapy). That being said, I would not recommend that you do so unless you really have to. They write about you in very cold, clinical language. I understand that's the nature of their job but it still feels jarring.

I would never want to know what my former psychiatrist wrote about me. I did not like her very much at all. My current psychiatrist isn't much better, although he is more "compassionate."

My therapist doesn't often write notes while I am talking to her, although a couple of weeks ago, when we were doing lifespan integration therapy, before I opened my eyes and "came back to the room" I could hear her pencil scratching across her notepad, and I was very curious to know what she was writing. Don't think I'd ever have the courage to ask.

Just ask your T what she writes in them...I have...and have got my records from previous T too...she did tell me I may not understand a whole lot ...haha

My therapist told me that he writes very little on purpose. We've discussed whether that is good or bad and the consequences of doing so, but I know if I were to request notes, there would be very little in them.

I have never asked for therapy notes, but I did get my records from an ER admission once. They found a physical issue with me while I was there for psych reasons and I needed the records to get follow-up care for it.

Honestly, it was very upsetting for me to read. I wish I had not needed to do it. I don't think I would request my therapist's notes unless I absolutely had to for that reason.