Do you think the therapist does unique things for only you?

I think my T does a lot of things that he may not do often with other clients, but I suspect they are not unique to me, that they are the same or similar to things he has done for other clients over the years. Sometimes I am the first person he tries things with.

Yes, she would always fit me in, even if it meant going to a different location.

I think my T does things for/with me that he doesn't do for other clients. I think he treats me as an individual & supports me in the way that I need to be supported. No one is the same, so in that respect, I think he treats me in a unique way. He has clear & consistent boundaries, but if I need him in a crisis, I can text him. I love my T very, very much. He is my 'Transference Dad'.

Seriously? If you don't want people to know stuff about you you shouldn't throw stuff on the internet.

T has done a lot of stuff I don't think she's done for anyone else, but I don't doubt that should the occasion warrant it, she'd do the same for her other clients.

This thread makes me feel envious...

So, "what do you mean by unique?"
I think every interaction and relationship is unique in many ways, Ts included. If they did bigger things that really stand out, it would not go well with me though. Both of my Ts said/did small things that I thought they did not belong to therapy, they were not offensive per se, but not how I want a T to interact with me. One of the even claimed one of those things as "special treatment" and I told him straight away that I don't want anything special from him. He also said a couple times that he thought I was like no one else he met, unique, etc. Did not like those either and gave a rather cynical response to it in the moment.
I still think that there are plenty of things in every interpersonal interaction that are unique, so probably not that "unique" after all?

My T put one of my paintings up on her wall, and a card I painted for is on display also. When I asked her about doing that just for me, she said I'm her only artist client. So, I suppose it's unique now, but if she ever has another artist as a client, she'd find a place for their work too.

She told me a few years ago that I'm her only client who emails her regularly. I find that hard to believe but she wouldn't have lied about it!

I don't think she held anyone's hand but I'm not sure.

My T would do unique things with everyone, as she's an "out of the box" kind of person.

I know without she does. I know she has done things for me that has crosses many boundaries and would freak out many people. Like she has provided transportation a couple of times when I was in a huge bind. There are other things that are very specific ans dedonotely unique so rather not go into details . That being said O am surr she doea things for other clients that is unique to them.

I totally agree with you. If you don't want to be found, then don't use the internet!!!! How dare she feel offended. Would she prefer random people seeing her profile online then?? And 'they' think that 'we' are disturbed!!!

Allowing sessions to go a little long, extended email back and forth, more self-disclosure than with any other client (her admission), extra chatty, maybe slightly flirty manner... all the stuff that leads to therapy disasters.

With my ex T it took me two years to realize that I was the only client she was emailing with. I was completely stunned. The fact that she only allowed one client (myself) to email her was actually very damaging because she started to resent it which eventually led to termination.
Nobody has brought it up but what about fairness? How is it fair to other clients to have favourites? Because that's what it is: giving only certain clients some priviledges over others is playing favourite. I don't think it's healthy at all: neither for the client nor the therapist.
Sure it might feel good to feel special but how would you feel if this was the other way around and you found out that your therapist had extended priviledges to some clients but not to you? Imo all clients should be treated the same. I know people here will disagree.

I'm absolutely certain my current therapist does not treat me any differently from her other clients: no special priviledge, no outside session contact, none of that. This is better.

I feel like it's OK to e-mail some clients and not others, mainly because some clients likely don't feel the need or want for out-of-session contact. Though if a client knew that a T did that and requested it for themselves, but then the T said no--that could be problematic.

I used to assume my T didn't hug any clients. I mentioned it to her once, and she said she did hug some clients. It took a few weeks until I could ask her why she didn't hug me. She said it was because I had some maternal transference for her. Hearing that crushed me because it felt like I was being punished for having maternal transference. Eventually, we talked about it. She gradually started touching me on the arm or shoulder when I left. Then there was one particularly rough session when she offered me a hug, and I accepted. She only occasionally offers them now, and I only occasionally ask for one--I fear if I ask for too many she'll say no. But at least I get some when I feel I need them.

Had I never known she hugged other clients, then it wouldn't have mattered. But once I learned that, it was very upsetting. Again, it would be different for someone like Stopdog, who wouldn't want a hug. But she probably could have figured that I might want a hug. So her withholding that was an issue for me.

Hm, perhaps we need the opposite poll: Does your T do something for other clients that she won't do for you?

He follows my blog, I'm not sure is it "unique".
He said he can't read my blog because of the boundaries, but started following it after 8 months of our therapy

My former therapist did somethings unique to me. One was he handled my schedule himself rather than his practice manager/wife who did scheduling for him. There were a couple of other things.

There's no way for me to know all things he does with all clients unless he tells me, but my current therapist did say he normally doesn't text/email with people the way he did with me. That doesn't mean I was the only one. But I am really surprised to see people here are the only ones who emailed with their therapists. Really surprised! Not sure how experienced those therapists are, but mine has been in practice 40 years, so I would expect him to have 'seen it all'.

There was a point where we were doing 'text therapy', for a few months, and I wondered if that is something he did with many others. I felt he was encouraging it. It actually worked good at the time as I was feeling really young attachment feelings. That was before the abstinence 'technique' was fully applied by him....wont get into that here.

Now we don't text outside of scheduling. Works better for us at this point anyway. Well for the most part...

I think therapy should be individually tailored to each client, but not out of favoritism; only out of clinical need. Just my take on it.

Strange that a therapist seeing 100s of clients would have never had 1 who emailed. I wonder why? Gives me a bit of shivers about a couple things my therapist said I "was the only one" about.

Regarding this question of doing different thing for different clients - I think that it should be done based on the needs of the client AND the needs of the therapist. And it is definitely the Ts job to take charge of how they are meeting those things - it's very unfortunate that your former T did more than she felt able to manage, and then ended up unfairly resenting you for something which was entirely her responsibility. I'm so sorry you had that bad experience, it must have been very painful.
In terms of schema therapy, this kind of tailored response to the client is the bit that is called limited reparenting. So for example, one person might have had a very enmeshed and overbearing parent, and as a result they have never found their own voice or been able to make their own choices in life. So with this person, the schema therapy T should not be constantly in contact with them, or giving them advice on what to do, but instead gently encouraging them to become independent and trust themselves and their own judgment. On the other hand, another person might have had absent or abusive caregivers, and they have never learnt to trust or rely on anyone other than themselves and it causes a problem in relationships. So with this person the T will be supportive, which may include out of hours contact, to help the client to experience a relationship where they are cared for and where they can trust the other person, because this is a really key experience that has been missing in their life. And once they learn to trust, it can transfer to other relationships and lead to other close and non-abusive friendships and relationships, outside of therapy.
The second one is my case. I really really appreciate my T's extra help and support, which I know he doesn't do for everyone. At the same time, I trust him as a professional that he is doing what he judges to be best for me in my life and my personal development, and that he is comfortable with his approach and knows that he is capable and is not overstretching himself.
I know different therapies work differently. I just thought I would explain that this is how it works in schema therapy.

I said maybe - it's hard to know.
I know my T likes her clients to start the session, to choose a topic, etc. as she works from a client centered point of view. Unfortunately I find that really, really hard and have struggled with it a lot (it makes me super anxious). So she has adapted her approach and now we usually start off with T asking me a question. Not sure if that's unique or not. She might do the same with other clients...

Thanks Satsuma. I always love hearing about schema therapy as it's intriguing.

I voted no. My therapist does not do unique things just for me. I show up at my appointed time each week and I leave on time. I only email or call to reschedule an appointment if needed. That is all. There is no contact between sessions, no emergency sessions, no extra time once the hour is up, no hugs or handshakes, no self-disclosures (okay, rarely), no book loaning, no nothing. And I love it this way. It just works so well for me.

Also, when I just started seeing him my pdoc would have me make appointments at the front desk, but recently (well, 3 years or something) he schedules the appointments himself at the end of session.

I've said "no" and that's technically not inaccurate. But she did serve as my therapist as well as psychiatrist which wasn't the original intent--I had two sessions with a therapist in the office and didn't click with her the way I did the psychiatrist, so I requested extended sessions with her so she could incorporate therapy which she agreed to. I don't think it was unique but also wasn't typical

A few things he's done that may be abnormal are buying me a bumper sticker and poster and other things.. Offering me an Xbox controller. I mean he asked if i wanted to drive his cousins cats to new york.. That one may have been a joke