Paperwork?

So I had my second visit with my new therapist yesterday. She had me fill out a DBT form...kind of a log of DBT examples, how I tend to react to my fear issues, and how I can change how I react to them.

It was okay...I think. I'm pretty sure it was helpful, yet I felt odd...it was the first time I'm seen a therapist and filled out that type of form. Usually, the therapist and I just talk.

I'm curious- does anyone else here fill out some type of form, such as a DBT form, as part of your therapy?

I have filled out paperwork when doing CBT stuff (I've never done DBT proper). I found it helpful as a way to clarify what I think/feel right at that moment, and so that I had something to look back on in a few months to see how things had changed.

Kind of.

My first therapist asked me some questions, but she knew I was planning to undergo psychological testing, so she told me she was going to wait until it was done.

I did so much psychological testing over the years that I might as well have filled out every form in existence, and sometimes I filled them out two or three times! Thank god all of the psychologists summarized the results of these forms, and that all of these summaries are attached to my personal file. It makes things easy for any new therapist to learn about me.

IDK. I find the forms very helpful. My pdoc did his own separate ones in conjunction, but his were to help me figure out which medications might be best for me. (Some of the forms included physiological/medical health history.) Then he did quite a few more over time to track my medication progress.

Yes, my therapist has me fill out two quick forms each time I come in, one related to my depression and one related to my anxiety. Things like ranking from 1-5 "I feel hopeless" or "I worry a lot" etc. That way she can add up the scores and kind of quantify how I'm doing week to week.
We just started doing it, though, and we're not sure it's working. Yesterday when I filled out the papers it indicated I was doing (slightly) better than last week, but I told her I felt worse. But we'll see how they shake out over time. I don't mind doing them.

No. And I would not do it even if the woman gave me forms.

Thank you all, very much. I usually don't mind filling out paperwork. Like I mentioned, the pages she asked me to fill out were somewhat helpful. Then again, for some reason I felt like filling out the paperwork reduced me to a number. I mean, we spent the entire session filling out paperwork. She called it 'coming up with my treatment plan.' I just hope there's an opportunity to tell her about some of my history and so on.

Same here. My psychiatrist's office has me do a huge questionaire (20+ questions, maybe 30, feels huge) days before the appointment. She doesn't care about it, though, and doesn't really look at it.

True DBT is FULL of homework. Pages every week. I've done a 7 month DBT class, so I've done tons of that kind of paperwork. I have a whole binder.

Some clinics have had me do exhaustive paper work (over 12 pages) of history, demographic info, etc. when I start there to help them make a treatment plan and get more information.

Definitely not as much paperwork as bluebicycle, but it felt excessive sometimes.