[phaset]

tl;dr, psych nurse snooped through my journal, a letter to my wife, and notes on my sessions with my psychiatrist...

My financial situation sucks right now, and my insurance only covers 12 sessions a year. I was seeing my therapist every two weeks, paying for the others myself, but my financial situation is horrible right now and we just had a baby. I cut back to once a month but I have really not been doing well. During the summer I asked my psychiatrist to refer me to community mental health to find out if I could get therapy from them and not have to pay. She did so, and they gave me an appointment on November 2nd to see them to determine what they would be able to offer me. So yesterday was the day.

I met with a psych nurse and we went over a bit of my history. I was feeling overwhelmed and I had made some notes on things, so she asked me something I had notes on so I took out my phone to look at them but i handed my phone to her so she could see something. She saw it was a huge document, so she asked if she could print it off. I said ok, and emailed it to her. We sat for a few minutes and it didn't show up on her computer, so I said that I could load it off of my website. I gave her the URL, helped her find the tilde key to type it in, and gave her the username and password to get in, then told her to click on the file that I was going to give her. She did, printed it, and then we went back to talking about the notes I had written.

At the end she told me she didn't know if she could answer any of my questions, that they don't normally treat people with Asperger's and they usually don't give therapy for very long, but that she would have to talk to the team she works with to see what they had to say. She asked if she could show them my notes too, which I had no problem with. I was bummed that the answer was probably going to be no.

This morning I got a call from my wife that a woman called and asked for a name that is a common first name, but is also part of my last name. My wife asked if she was looking for me, she said yes, then my wife told her I was at work. She asked her for my cell, but my wife had no idea who this was and didn't give it to her. She said she probably had it somewhere, which is true, and hung up.

Later I took a peek at the logfile on the server where my documents are and noticed that someone had accessed several of them, including my journal for a month in 2013, a letter to my wife, and the notes I keep on my psychiatrist visits. They were all accessed over a 10 minute period, with breaks in between, similar time it would take to read them. I was pissed. I should have had her close the site when she was done, but it was the furthest thing from my mind at the time. I have a hard time thinking when I am stressed.

Near the end of the day I called the office and asked to speak with her. She told me she had met with her team and that they couldn't do anything for me and that I should continue with my therapist. She then asked if I had any questions, so I asked her why she looked through my files. She said she didn't. I said that someone from her office loaded my journal and other documents. She said she went into it by accident trying to get out of the site but didn't read it. Given the time period over which the files were accessed I don't believe this one bit.

I really regret going there now. What should I do?

[AllHeart]

I would call someone and find out if a complaint can be filed. Who you call in Canada, I don't know. You may have enough proof on what actually happened, but, since you gave her access to the site initially there may be nothing you can do. Not sure how that all works. What this woman did was total BS and worth making a call to find out if anything can be done.

Since you gave her access to the website including passwords, it is unlikely you can do much about it. She very well may have clicked on some wrong files and opened them didn't close them out right or something; doesn't necessarily mean she read them. She says she didn't. There is no way to prove otherwise I don't think.

[wotchermuggle]

I would call about a complaint as well. I would have been furious. I doubt much would come of it, though.

I'd be maybe thankful you found out that they aren't honest people in such a way that you can avoid dealing with stuff like that in the future.

Originally Posted by wotchermuggle

I would call about a complaint as well. I would have been furious. I doubt much would come of it, though.

I'd be maybe thankful you found out that they aren't honest people in such a way that you can avoid dealing with stuff like that in the future.

But how do you know they aren't being honest?

[AllHeart]

Originally Posted by lolagrace

But how do you know they aren't being honest?

Taking 10 minutes to try to click an "x" on a website to close it while accidentally accessing several files? Maybe not enough evidence to prove it wasn't an accident, maybe it is. It's smelly enough to where I think it's worth at least a call to find out.

Originally Posted by AllHeart

Taking 10 minutes to try to click an "x" on a website to close it while accidentally accessing several files? Maybe not enough evidence to prove it wasn't an accident, maybe it is. It's smelly enough to where I think it's worth at least a call to find out.

I agree, and the Op did call and was told it was accidental and not read. People open pages all the time and leave them open not even thinking about it while they do other things. I just don't see what more she can do about this. There is no way to confirm anything one way or another. I feel badly that the op has found herself in an uncomfortable situation, but it kind of comes down to what she wants to believe, and that is not something she will be able to prove barring some sort of admission it sounds like.

[phaset]

lolagrace is right, I can't know for sure that she is not telling the truth about reading them. I do know she went back to the index between each and then clicked on a new one. I strongly suspect she lied to me based on the timing and sequence of the events, plus her initial denial. There was nothing bad about the things she loaded, just a bit embarrassing. I see my current therapist on Thursday though, and I can see her pushing me to report it.

While I am not happy with what happened, I am more concerned about how I am going to deal with seeing her once a month. I had my hopes up that I would be able to see someone on a more regular basis for awhile and then go back to my current therapist once I was more stable.

[CantExplain]

Aspies rule!

[divine1966]

Don't give others your passwords to anything ever

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[phaset]

Originally Posted by divine1966

Don't give others your passwords to anything ever

While good advice, I was well aware that this was a possibility. She didn't reuse my login information, it was still logged in from when we loaded the file. The password was a throwaway also. I see it more along the lines of I asked someone to feed my cats while I was away, and they rifled through my underwear drawer. Or I left a file folder there by accident and she looked through it.

[The_little_didgee]

Why can't your psychiatrist do psychotherapy? Mine does.

I have ASD. My psychiatrist doesn't specialize in it, but she is very aware of the issues that come with it. As long as a therapist recognizes that cognitive style therapy will usually be productive.

Specialize in Asperger's? I don't understand that especially for adults. Basically we need to work on theory of mind, social skills, communication and flexibility. A general therapist (who is familiar with ASD) can help with these things.

[phaset]

Originally Posted by The_little_didgee

Why can't your psychiatrist do psychotherapy? Mine does.

I have ASD. My psychiatrist doesn't specialize in it, but she is very aware of the issues that come with it. As long as a therapist recognizes that cognitive style therapy will usually be productive.

Thank you for reminding me about that possibility. My psychiatrist said she doesn't have the training or experience to do therapy, but I can see her as much as I want. I will consider this more. I do like her, but I have a hard time seeing her as a potential therapist.

Originally Posted by The_little_didgee

Specialize in Asperger's? I don't understand that especially for adults. Basically we need to work on theory of mind, social skills, communication and flexibility. A general therapist (who is familiar with ASD) can help with these things.

I don't either, I think it was more of an excuse due to poor funding. I was the first person with Asperger's that my current therapist treated. It's depression and anxiety that are bothering me more than Asperger's issues.

[eeyorestail]

The timing does sound suspicious. It seems unlikely that she accidentally clicked a link, waited a few minutes, accidentally clicked another link, waited a few minutes and so forth. Honestly it sounds like her curiosity got the better of her and she wasn't tech-savvy enough to realize you could track it.

I think you should talk to her boss at the clinic if you feel comfortable doing so, bringing a print-out of what you found. Unfortunately as others have said it is tricky because you provided the password and she claims it was an accident.

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