Dear Client

Daisy,

You think I don't care? You couldn't be further from the truth! I didn't ask you why you cancelled for several reasons: you'll tell me if you want to, I figured that you had a good reason to, I know you lead a full and enriching life outside of our time together, and it's not my business. I am here to guide you on a journey to healing, not to check on you or to presume to tell you how to live your life.

I may ask why you cancelled next time we meet, or I may not. I know that you aren't running away by any means, since you confirmed our next appointment in your text. I'll keep holding a place for you, and I mean it when I say that you'll be fine. You are so much more resilient and brave than you give yourself credit for. Love yourself until I see you next Saturday.

T

PS, we should probably revisit this transference thing. You're projecting a lot of your dad onto me in ways that I don't deserve.

I am going to adopt you. You move in next week.

Dear Art: Is it true? Have you really not sent me any emails since you left my office Wednesday evening? Maybe my email is broken.... T

Dear Butterfly,

You need to work on your coping skills. Do more art when you are stressed. And bring it with you for me to see.

-T

Dear cr,

remember what I said last week? That I am there and I will hold you? I mean it. Really.

I'll see you tomorrow.
Love, T.

Dear Mona,
I can feel you distancing yourself. I am not sure what is going on between us but something has changed.
I feel it's a real relationship, I know you have said it's not because you are paying me. I have been thinking a lot about this and even if you weren't paying me, I would still like to spend time with you. Maybe I shouldn't have told you this because you have pulled away. I don't understand you sometimes, you want to be close and when I offer you any closeness, you pull away. Please tell me what's going on so we can look at this together

I find you really challenging, but i guess I've just got to carry on being me and hope that's enough. It's a bit scary trying to get things right.

Daisy, please don't ghost me. You're making such good progress. We have time to do some really meaningful work, and I assure you that I have referrals in mind for you when I retire. Also, it would probably hurt me if you didn't say goodbye. We have developed a really interesting rapport.

-Daisy's T

get it together sarah.

Annie,
You are smart. You are kind. You are talented. You are funny. It pains me that you can't see these things about yourself.
T

Dear Elio,

Email me or not, I don't care. It is just information. You don't need to torture yourself over it.

In other words, either way, just get off the pot.

Dr. S

Not dear captgut,
3 weeks without you is not enough. Can you call and cancel our appointment please? I'm tired of you.

Unsurprisingly you have no friends. No one can love you. No one care. I pretend like I care, but you pay me. Your life is so miserable, I'm surprised you're not depressed. I admire you sometimes, because you're so miserable, but still alive and quite optimistic.

You love me... Well, it's a bother. I don't need your love, I don't need you. I hate our sessions. Please please cancel our appointment or at least reschedule

T

Art:

Please don't be annoyingly needy today. I am not in the mood for your usual crap. Goddess i wish you would just get over yourself already. I mean seriously.

T

Dear LT,
If your "Inner Child" sends any more emails, she's in time out! I mean it's great that you're having all these revelations and stuff, but can't it just wait till Monday? Not cutting you off, just...take a hint from my lack of response!
Love,
MC

Dear Lost,

I'm sorry we had to postpone this week...however, I don't think any less of you for having to cancel. Don't use that as another tool in your endless quest to beat yourself up, OK?

See you next Thursday.

Kindest regards,

R

Annie,
I'm proud of you for saying some positive things about yourself without me prompting you. I hope you remember the feeling of appreciating yourself and keep trying to do that.
I hope this method of therapy has been working. I'm still fairly new to this, and I worry that I'm ineffective. Please be truthful with me if something isn't working for you.
I hope your new medicine helps. It seemed like you were able to open up a little more today. I'm glad about that.
Love, T
P.S. Thank you for telling me about your eating disorder, even if it was really brief and vague. I'm sorry we didn't have time to talk about it, but I want to discuss it more with you next time.

Dear ATAT,

I really think you may be rushing the going off meds. Go slow, okay?

CW

QM,

I'll discuss with you if you're messaging me too much. Next month, I hope I remember to show you one of your earlier letters (I've kept all of them under lock and key) to contrast it with your letters now.

Dear LT,
Of course I'm hoping you'll meet with T today and won't feel such a need to talk to me afterward. Why do you think I suggested we wait to talk? But if you still want to talk, I'll honor my offer.

I hate that you're struggling and worry that something I said made it worse. As soon as I said the word "boundaries," I figured you'd react this way. But I just have to say it, give it lip service so to speak--I don't necessarily have to adhere to them. Remember when I said I would have to stick to 45-minutes for sessions? I mean, how long did that last--a week or two? But I at least need to act like we're focusing on you and H as a couple, even though clearly you individually are the one who needs the most help. And I want to help you. It's like I can't keep myself from helping you, if that makes any sense. But I have to talk the talk. Doesn't mean I'm going to walk the walk.

Take care, and talk to you soon (probably sooner than Monday anyway),
MC

MBM,

I'm sorry. It hurt me to see your tears, but I'll keep that to myself because you've told me how important it is for your therapist to be stable and not let his own emotions in.

I've been thinking about you this week. I've considered emailing but don't know where you are emotionally/mentally and if that would be helpful or not. You've never almost walked out of therapy before. I hope you're not hurting too badly...

Would you please think about what I said? I'm not mad. I don't get angry in therapy or my life; that's just not who I am - remember? We've talked about this but I'll remind you. You didn't do anything wrong. I know you're doing your best, and I'm sorry I seemed harsh. Please come back next session. I hope we'll be okay. I'm here. I'm committed.

Therapist

capt,

i don't want to see you on Friday. you're so miserable.

If my therapist were to post something about me, I think/hope it would be something like this:
Shakespeare47, you're tougher than you realize and you're a better person than you realize. You've been through a lot and you survived. You've shown a lot of courage by voluntarily doing things even though you felt fear. Maybe, in the future, what you need to focus on is what you need, and focus on setting boundaries, and perhaps thinking about the cost/consequences of your actions(because you sometimes do unnecessary things that bring you even more pain). You know what it would take for you to live a better and more moral life... you just need to keep making the right decisions... you just need to keep moving in the right direction.

Feared:

Dear LT,
No, I'm not responding to your e-mail or texts. You seem to want me to admit I did something wrong. When I didn't. I won't say it to your face, but yeah, you ARE the screwed up one in the marriage. You ARE the one who needs to adapt to H, who is just a perfectly normal guy who probably deserves better than your selfish, needy, anxious, depressed, obsessive-compulsive self. And you know what? Of course I'd rather be somewhere else than dealing with your ramblings--not just on a holiday like Monday, but on any other workday. What, you think I'd be meeting you if you weren't paying me $175 a week? You're lucky I don't charge you for outside-session contact--I'd make a windfall! I could probably send my daughter to college just on that alone.

Sorry for sounding like an asshole--I can only keep up that super-caring, accepting persona for so long before I snap!
MC

Dear D

You're never gonna get better. Some people are just too messed up. Leave me alone already and go kill yourself.

T

Fixed it for you.