How do you feel about your therapist having other clients?

T1 works at a community mental health center, so I always see him with other clients and it doesn't bother me. I don't know any personally, though, and that would likely bother me if I did.

I only ran into another client once. I arrived early in town and I was paranoid that I might have got the day wrong. I stupidly decided to walk by her office (her room can be seen from the street) on my way to the pub where I was planning to pass the time. I was so busy trying to glance sideways in through the window to see if there were signs of life in there that I didn't notice that she had come to the front door to see her client off. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard her familiar voice calling goodbye to her client, feet away from me. I nearly knocked the client over, trying to scramble up the street to get out of Ts view.
Obviously I was too mortified to really give much thought to how I felt watching someone else come out of the building. There is no waiting room and T always comes to the front door to see me off too, but I just didn't expect anyone to come out at the exact minute I was both walking by and staring in. It did strike me how impressive and cool this other client seemed compared to me, possibly being potted scurrying up the street. But that's for the reasons I just described!
Anyway I no longer allow myself to feel the need to check that T is actually in the building before my appointment , it's just not worth it!

I voted that I don't care, but I wouldn't want to be my T's only client. I would feel like I was holding him back from full retirement.

It's strange. When a child walks out of her office it rather amuses me. Being an early childhood educator I am aware how exhausting a little one can be Now the scenario changes if it's an adult in there who seems to be enjoying the session entirely too much or if they run into MY time. I don't like that and she knows it too. I like to think I'm one of her favorites if not her favorite.

my t works out of her home, and her 'waiting room' is a rocking chair on the porch of her house. I have not availed myself of it yet, I wait in my car. She keeps telling me I can get there early and go for a walk if I want to (she's kinda out in the country) but I haven't yet. I go straight from work and usually end up leaving work late, and driving up 5 minutes before my appt so I just sit in my car and wait for her to open the office door.

I know my T sees inpatients at outpatients at the hospital clinic.

Usually, I don't think about her inpatient clients, just her outpatient ones. I do surmise some inpatients become her outpatient clients but I try to imagine that "oh she probably has about 20 outpatients..."

Oddly, an ex friend who is a nurse at the same clinic once remarked that "Dr C's patients always seem to quit." probably because she works with some people with BPD and other PDs. It makes me hope I'm part of a smaller, somehow more exclusive group of "clients who are in medium to longer term therapy with Dr C".

T once commented that she has patients who yell at her, and some who are very quiet. The ones who yell at her are the ones she remembers more, so I start thinking she finds "the quiet ones" (incl me!) boring.

One time I saw a family in the waiting room whom the clinic staff greeted after their "intensive assessment" (which I know from experience is 1h 30mins to 2 hours). I felt envious that she spent that much time with them, because she could spend that same amount of time with me and bill me the relevant code for "intensive psychotherapy" but she doesn't.

I know she does couples as well as individuals and,family, but I haven't run into another couple.

I get all sorts of mixed feelings about other clients. I feel envious, because I want to be "special" even when I know I'm not.

I typically don't care one way or another. If it's a woman alone I might wonder if she is also in love with him.

In a way I want him to have a lot of great clients because that would mean he's good and that would be awesome for him and in another way I would want to be one of just a few so I was more special.

It makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm not angry or jealous exactly but when I have run into other clients coming and going, it shatters the nice illusion of being unique to my t. Which I know is kind of ridiculous because everyone is unique in their own way. But seeing other clients is a reminder that I'm not in the sense that I'm just another client.

The guy before me always walk out and seems really uncomfortable so even though I'm generally not the most talkative person in T, I don't get too self-conscious. Sometimes when I leave there is a woman waiting and I do get kind of jealous about her. A majority of the time I'm the last client of the day so I don't have to see anyone else waiting. I like being either the only client or one of two clients that are at the practice at my session time. It feels more intimate that way and I don't get distracted by other people.

I see a T in a large practice so there's other people in the waiting room. I go in to catch a few breaths before he calls me in.

I was more or less blissfully unaware of their existence until one day when a girl (let's all just acknowledge that this crime took place four years ago) had been booked for the same hour as me and got turned away by my therapist. She gave me the most professional stink eye I've ever witnessed in passing and it was SO RUDE that the room's entire feng shui was offset and it still hasn't been restored to its original state. Classy.

Anyway–I don't feel anything noteworthy towards older women, men, or her young clients. I do get feelings of insecurity/jealousy when I see her clients that are females in my age group, but I smile politely at them anyway because it didn't feel very nice to be glared at that one time, and also because I don't want to be the girl she talks about to her therapist because "she made the 'enemy in sight' gesture as she walked by and it was upsetting"

Wait - who's wendy??

Seriously? And I thought you were hip and all.

Dave Thomas needed therapy? I thought he was adopted?? now im really confused! Oh the little red haired girl!! Actually i meant charlie browns eternal love!

She's the one tripping down the streets of the city, smiling at everybody she sees, reaching out to capture a moment. Everyone knows that.

I never see my T's other clients but it would not bother me if I did.

The young ones, college age and into 20's, tend to show up early, so I see them. They have that fan girl look about them. Their earliness bugs me because there is really no room between the waiting section and the office...literally just a foot or two.

I generally don't much care about t's other clients. I'm in a group with some of them, so i'm friendly when I see those clients. I have no way of knowing who any of t's other clients are tough. She works in an office with several other t's. The waiting room is almost always full on the hour and half hour.

In general, I know t has other clients and expect that. I'm not jealous or bothered by it. In fact, I'd be bothered if I thought I was t's only client...

A lot of people seem to assume that because me and T are close, and that we use (a little) touch in session, that I am jealous of his other clients. More so that I should be writhing at the though of him using touch with other people too!
What BS. To me that just makes me feel safer, that it's just something he offers if its needed and he feels its appropriate / helpful etc. If it was 'all just for me' then it would feel a bit.....creepy? Not sure if that quite covers it. Unethical I suppose.
So anyway, no. I don't really care about them, its just part of his job. (Again if I was the only one it would be odd).

A lot of people seem to assume that because me and T are close, and that we use (a little) touch in session, that I am jealous of his other clients. More so that I should be writhing at the though of him using touch with other people too!
What BS. To me that just makes me feel safer, that it's just something he offers if its needed and he feels its appropriate / helpful etc. If it was 'all just for me' then it would feel a bit.....creepy? Not sure if that quite covers it. Unethical I suppose.
So anyway, no. I don't really care about them, its just part of his job. (Again if I was the only one it would be odd).

It doesn't bother me that she has other clients, but personally, I don't want to bump into them because quite frankly and however wrongly I'm ashamed to be going to see the T in the first place, even though I know that I need to

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It doesnt bother me at all. I have only run into other clients a couple of times and heard her in session with another client once. I have I had a few of her clients as patients where I work. I figure we are all blessed to have such a wonderful person working with us.

My T used touch in session, and I understand, because even then, I was DEFINITELY not jealous about other clients. Why would I be? I was being treated so caring, so lovingly, I didn't feel the need to question others. Even now, that she's taken that away, I don't have any jealousy feelings about other clients. I think if they were to somehow affect MY sessions I might...like if she ran late with one, and it cut into my time...

What kind of touch does your T provide? My T still will hug me.... so I guess she's not completely taken it away. She initiates the hugs, not me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by musinglizzy My T used touch in session, and I understand, because even then, I was DEFINITELY not jealous about other clients. Why would I be? I was being treated so caring, so lovingly, I didn't feel the need to question others. Even now, that she's taken that away, I don't have any jealousy feelings about other clients. I think if they were to somehow affect MY sessions I might...like if she ran late with one, and it cut into my time... What kind of touch does your T provide? My T still will hug me.... so I guess she's not completely taken it away. She initiates the hugs, not me.

On a day-to-day session we sit on the floor together, side by side up against each other. There are a few reasons why, the main ones being that when I get emotionally stressed I dissociate (which can trigger seizures) so the touch keeps me grounded. Also it gives me a sense of security.

If we get onto a slightly uncomfortable topic and I can feel myself starting to wander mentally I hold the fabric of his shirt (where it bunches at the elbow) and rub it between my fingers. Having the sensation to focus on keeps me 'in the room'. It also means T knows exactly how I am feeling and that if U suddenly stopped doing it that he should check in with me.

Finally, if we are talking about something particularly difficult or painful we sit a bit differently. It started with us sitting back to back leaning against each other, but T didn't like not being able to see me at all, and it didn't help with the later stages of dissociation (when I need to focus). So now T turns 90 degrees with his back to me, and I lean against him (normally with my head between his shoulder blades). This way he can look over his shoulder if he wants to check if I am okay, and I can still focus on the feeling of the fabric.

Actually we discovered another advantage to this shift a few weeks ago. I had a seizure in session. If we had been sitting back to back I would have landed on my face, where as this time i just sort of ended up propped up against T and the chair at our backs.

We have once hugged and on a couple of occasions held hands, but my T rarely instigates touch. I understand why, but it's still a bit annoying

My T works from home and no waiting room. I usually turn up a couple of minutes late, and I have always finished either on time or within the 15min gap (T always discusses before we go over), so I've never seen another client.
I don't mind about them at all, but I wouldn't really like to bump into them. For them, and me. Awkward.