Dear Client

Yes, you are hard work.

You've been in my thoughts a lot recently. I hope you're OK...and if not, I hope we can help you get there.

Take care, and try not to be too hard on yourself.

See you soon,

R

Dear Butterfly,

Would you please just tell me what's bothering you? You know I won't judge.

-T

You're tooooo weird. You scare me. I don't know what to expect.
I feel helpless. I got tired of you. Can you **** off, please?

I don't hate you. You annoy me, but I don't hate you.

Why do I think you're not going to come back? I don't want to be ghosted. But if I'm honest with both of us I can understand why it might happen.

I'm always wondering if you're high

I’m so proud of you for talking so deeply about your trauma. I know how hard this is for you, but you need to go there. I feel so humbled that you can tell me. It was good work, although I know you don’t ‘feel’ like it is. Thank you for trusting me with this.

Annie,
Please hang in there. Please. Four more days. Please stop drinking.
T

I'm sorry I've been putting you down so you can be my client for long-term so I can earn more money from you.

That is, if he'd ever feel guilty about it in the first place

Please don't come in and start talking about your Twisted head again and you're stupid ****. Let's just get down to business and do EMDR so I can go home it's Friday.

Annie,
Chill out. It's not that big of a deal. You're being a baby. Why are you so scared?
T

Art, thank you. I know that wasn't easy for you to say. And I also know that you are thinking about making your upcoming break a more permanent one, and that's why you asked to schedule 2 more weeks in a row instead of just next week. We'll talk about that, of course. I celebrate your growth and your so much stronger Self, my dear, more than you realize. And I do love you, person to person, even though I'll never say that in so many words. It has been such an honor walking beside you for the past 6 years on your journey to self. You have shared so much, been so brave, looked so deeply into yourself. Carry that with you. Love, t

T: RS, you haven't contacted me this week. Does that mean you're doing better?

Me: Erm, no.

Dear LT,
You know, I'm feeling pretty ambivalent about you, too. You probably think I haven't responded to your e-mail because I'm out of town--I am, but that's not the reason. WTF with bringing up my wife again? Sure, I brought all that up with T2 when telling him about you, but I didn't expect him to run back and tell you everything I said! And then for you to ask me about it... Yes, I think you're a boundary pusher who has seriously crossed the line several times with me. (I only put up with you and didn't terminate you because I promised not to abandon you--what a stupid promise that was!) And I wanted to warn T2 in case you did the same to him, especially since his name would be much easier to Google!
OK, see you Friday (unless I decide to cancel, of course).
--MC

Dear WIP,
I miss you too and think of you often.
-T.

You totally wasted my time on Friday I hope you plan on doing better tomorrow. I so wish I could just dump you because you're getting on my nerves. Sometimes you put in the effort and make such great progress and other times you're just a lost cause. Just one more week and I'll be rid of you for 2 weeks that will be a great vacation. I hope I I hope you get your s*** together during our time off and come back ready to work again. I'm ready to give up on you.

Stop wasting my time. You are so annoying. When are you going to take the hint and leave?

Wish is said:

Dear (me),

The following words are 'true', 'genuine', and from my heart. They are NOT, I repeat, they are NOT because I am a therapist that knows what to say to a client. Are you listening, because these true words are very important. Please focus and believe everything I write here is what I truly feel and believe. I Do care about you as the person you are and not just how a therapist is supposed to care about the wellbeing of his/her clients. I care about you and want to help you with all the fears and other stuff that plagues you in this world. I truly wish I could be there to protect you from all that goes on inside yourself. No matter what your fears tell you, I am never going to leave you. You are special to me and have a place in my heart and I do love you and want to make sure you are safe in this world from the world itself and from yourself. I really want to be a part of you finding a happy life. To help you remember that all those things are true, I have gotten you a small gift that I want you to keep with you to remember everything I have said when you get worried about what is real. Remember, everything I told you was true and NOT therapeutic talk! Please trust and believe in my care.

(some people will immediately think bad about the use of the word 'love' in that above wishful letter from T, but I did not mean it in ANY innappropriate or sexual way.)

The closer reality of the letter probably:

Dear (me),

OMG, I did say that I owuld not leave you but I had no freaking idea just how much a pain in the (*ss) you were going to be when I said that. Why in the world can you just not believe what I say, trust me, and just work right with this therapy. I can not even say you are ignorant, you are simply stupid, lazy and crazy. You exhaust the crap out of me and I do believe I have wasted enough of my time on you. It is true that there are some hopeless people out there and you are one of them. You are so unbelievably needy, way beyond what I could have imagined when we started. If I had known how bad you were I would have never agreed to letting you email me. Now I am stuck reading and replying to your craziness outside of session in addition to dealing with you in session. This has gotten to be way to much and you are never going to trust me or give me the benefit of the doubt in things. You always see what you want to see and it is always negative. I can't help you change the way you see things because you don't even really want to change. I don't know why you bothered coming here for so long, but I am all worn out from your emotional blood-sucking. Time for your to leave me in peace. I know the session has only been 30 minutes, but I just can't take another second of you. Would you like to walk yourself out or should I close the door behind you?

Dear ATAT,

So I made a mistake. So it was a big mistake. Okay, a few big mistakes. So get over it already. Definitely don’t try to make me confront my own flaws. That’s not happening.

No. 3

Annie,
I'm proud of you for trying. Keep trying. Change will come. See you in 9 days.
T

You don't let me get away with anything, do you?

Is therapy too painful for you?

Annie,
Please don't do this. Please please please don't. I know you don't like people telling you what to do but you're not listening to your own voice of reason so I have to tell you.
T