How do I address my therapist?

ecl39 · Aug 19, 2015, 10:31 PM

This may sound stupid, but in an email, how do I address my therapist? She's a licensed professional counselor without a PhD or anything, so she's not technically a doctor. But in my last email to her I referred to her as Dr. _____. She's never told me what to call her and I've never asked or really given it much thought until now. Should I just stick to what I've already established and address her as Dr. again in this email?

catnip123 · Aug 20, 2015, 11:15 AM

You can just leave that off completely and just type the email

stopdog · Aug 20, 2015, 11:17 AM

I have never had a need to address any of them by name or title (I would never use a title with one of them unless they were addressing me by my title).
I just start with the body.
Otherwise I would use their first name.

Leah123 · Aug 20, 2015, 11:20 AM

I'd probably refer to her by first name. You two are equals, both adults, in a client/therapist relationship, and she does not have a doctorate, so the address she'd be entitled to if you want to be formal is Ms. or Mrs.

AnaWhitney · Aug 20, 2015, 11:22 AM

If I have to text my T to change or confirm appointment times I just use her first name. I've never given it much thought! In your case tho I agree with catnip, Id just leave it off and type the message

AuroraBorealis75 · Aug 20, 2015, 11:29 AM

I would just use her first name, if you are on a first name basis in therapy.

Chummy · Aug 20, 2015, 11:33 AM

When I email my T I use her first name. She ends her emails to me with only her first name, so.
But with my pdoc I also didn't know how to adress him. He ended his email to me with his first- and lastname. No tittle. I just started my email to him with ''Hello,'' and then the message.

atisketatasket · Aug 20, 2015, 01:50 PM

First name. One introduced herself to me by first name only, the other signed an email setting up the first appointment with her first name only. So that was easy.

When they use first name-last name together, your choice. If it's a doctor (an MD), I'd use Doctor Last Name.

And may I air a pet peeve of mine, non-MDs with doctorates (PhD, JD) being addressed as Dr.? I realize they're entitled to the title, but it bugs me when people call me "Dr." Save it for the person who could actually answer the question "is there a doctor in the house?" in the affirmative.

ScarletPimpernel · Aug 20, 2015, 03:20 PM

My T has her doctorate and I still address her by her first name. But I did ask her first how I should address her.

Technically, you should not address your T as doctor since she does not have a doctorate. It might even be insulting to do so. I had a nurse practitioner as my primary. I called her Dr. once and she was offened. She told me she is not a doctor and to just call het by her first name.

Ex-T also had a doctorate and I referred to her by her first name.

Aug 20, 2015, 04:51 PM

First name for therapist; Dr. ____ for my pdoc.

stopdog · Aug 20, 2015, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atisketatasket

First name. One introduced herself to me by first name only, the other signed an email setting up the first appointment with her first name only. So that was easy.

When they use first name-last name together, your choice. If it's a doctor (an MD), I'd use Doctor Last Name.

And may I air a pet peeve of mine, non-MDs with doctorates (PhD, JD) being addressed as Dr.? I realize they're entitled to the title, but it bugs me when people call me "Dr." Save it for the person who could actually answer the question "is there a doctor in the house?" in the affirmative.

I am unwilling to call an md 'doctor" - I only use it in scornful tones when one of them is on the stand -and sometimes I call them Mr. just to piss them off= and certainly feel they are no more entitled to the title than the others listed. I only use someone's title if they are using mine. I call mds and dmds and dvms on it all the time when they refer to me as X and themselves as Dr Y - it is fun to see how quickly they recover when I ask why they just assumed the familiar with me while retaining the formal for themselves.

LonesomeTonight · Aug 20, 2015, 05:02 PM

My T is an LCSW, and I call her by her first name. Though I've also been seeing her for 4 years, so there's familiarity there. In the very beginning, I referred to her as Ms. [last name]. With my marriage counselor, he's a PhD, so I generally call him Dr. [last name] in e-mails, though occasionally I've used his first name (and then felt all insecure about that!). But if I'm talking to T about him, lately I've just been using his first name. I haven't e-mailed p-doc, but I refer to her as Dr. [last name], partly because I've only been seeing her for 6 months and don't have the same relationship.

Gavinandnikki · Aug 20, 2015, 05:05 PM

"Dear first name", is what I did.

ecl39 · Aug 20, 2015, 05:13 PM

Now I'm really anxious that I may have offended her by calling her Dr. in my last email haha. If she didn't say anything about it during our last two sessions, should I just let it go? I tend to over-analyze everything, and I really don't want to stress out over this if it's not a huge deal. I'm not even going to add a title like Dr., Mrs., etc. to this next email that I send; I'm just going to begin it with what I have to say. Thanks, everyone, for the responses! I appreciate it.

spring2014 · Aug 20, 2015, 05:14 PM

I would address your therapist by first name basis only . with my therapist I address her by her name when I call her ,email or in the office. its more appropriate to address your therapist by first name . its client / therapist relationship .

spring2014 · Aug 20, 2015, 05:16 PM

hi elc39,
it's appropriate to address your therapist by first name in the email . also in when you meet her in person .I address my therapist by her first name . its a client/ therapist relationship .

ruh roh · Aug 20, 2015, 06:44 PM

I write:

Hi [therapist first name],

Aug 20, 2015, 06:50 PM

My therapist is a PHD but have always referred to each other by our first names.

msxyz · Aug 20, 2015, 07:48 PM

How does she address you? That's how I would address her.

velcro003 · Aug 20, 2015, 08:11 PM

This is totally off topic, but it made me think how my MD doctor refers to herself by her first name when she tells me to call her about something, where as I only refer to her as Dr. LastName. My last therapist was a PHD and I only refered to her (in emails and voicemails) as Dr. LastName, but my current T is a LCSW, so I refer to her by her first name--which is how she referred to herself in the original e-mail she wrote to me, so that made it easy.

Lauliza · Aug 20, 2015, 11:14 PM

I would use the first name only if it's a therapist, "Dr." if they are an MD. If you still feel unsure I would just use the body and not address it or simply say "hello".

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