[Tbhimscared]

Have you ever read your notes from your therapist? Mine only writes things down when it's like a more specific detail but other than that she usually doesn't write anything. Sometimes when I come back she'll say she didn't get a chance to look over my notes very much so I'm assuming she writes them post session. I honestly have no idea what kinds of things she could be writing but I'm really curious. I know a lot of therapists don't want their client to read them too early on that it might ruin their treatment, and i don't think I should be asking for mine right now.
What kinds of things has your therapist written? If you haven't read your notes, what things do you think they write?

[Amyjay]

My T takes notes in session and has a thick folder of my notes. i haven't even been seeing her that long. She tends to write things when i give her different bits of family or personal history and she writes things when she noticed I am triggered or have switched or something. Sometimes i ask her what she has written, she usually says something like "I am just writing down what you say so I don't forget." Once I asked her to read me what she wrote and read out exactly what I had said that she wrote down. I know she also prints my emails and puts them in my file too.
I am sure she must write other stuff down too. I don't know if I would want to read her notes or not.

[Tbhimscared]

Originally Posted by Amyjay

My T takes notes in session and has a thick folder of my notes. i haven't even been seeing her that long. She tends to write things when i give her different bits of family or personal history and she writes things when she noticed I am triggered or have switched or something. Sometimes i ask her what she has written, she usually says something like "I am just writing down what you say so I don't forget." Once I asked her to read me what she wrote and read out exactly what I had said that she wrote down. I know she also prints my emails and puts them in my file too.
I am sure she must write other stuff down too. I don't know if I would want to read her notes or not.

My T knows my family history pretty well by now (she was actually my brothers T) so she's familiar with my situation. I'm curious to see if she can tell how anxious I am sitting in her office or if she notices it, sometimes it's really obvious and i play with a piece of paper or rip it up or pull at my clothes but other times i just squeeze my book or phone or something like that. I want to know if she's made any inferences about me or what's going on, or if it's all just some details scattered on the pages

[annielovesbacon]

My T must take notes, there is no way she could remember things so well with all the clients she sees, and she only sees me once every two weeks. But I've never seen her take notes -- she must write them up once I've left. I think she writes what she needs to remember what happened in session, so that she can review them before our next session.
I have never read those notes, and while I am curious, I know reading them would be harmful to me. Once I knew how she takes notes, I would not ever be able to un-know it, and everything I said to her I would think about how she would write it down. So that would not be good for my therapy.

[Elio]

I provide my T with a journal that includes previous session's notes. She makes notes based on them. I don't know now that I've been doing it a while if she makes independent notes from the sessions anymore.

[JaneTennison1]

I received some of my notes as part of my complaint against ex t. she got a few things wrong and overall it was really awful to read her impression of me . The most baffling part is she used to take notes during our sessions so I'm not sure how she noted so badly. ex ex t was terrible in keeping notes and I have no interest in reading them.

Originally Posted by annielovesbacon

My T must take notes, there is no way she could remember things so well with all the clients she sees, and she only sees me once every two weeks. But I've never seen her take notes -- she must write them up once I've left. I think she writes what she needs to remember what happened in session, so that she can review them before our next session.
I have never read those notes, and while I am curious, I know reading them would be harmful to me. Once I knew how she takes notes, I would not ever be able to un-know it, and everything I said to her I would think about how she would write it down. So that would not be good for my therapy.

My T doesn't take notes during session, either

I'm not sure she actually writes things down or if she just has fantastic memory.

It's possible your therapist has great memory. I like to think of the client-therapist relationship as something similar to friendship, whereby you get to know a lot of details about your friends over time by talking to them and you tend to remember those details. If you think about all the friends and accomplices you've met, you probably know A LOT of details about A LOT of different people. It's just something that naturally happens the more you get exposed to people.

I did once and found them pretty boring and monotonous. She did minimal paperwork to be in compliance with the state licensing board. Our email correspondence and other stuff I gave her was not a part of her official records.

My standby therapist never did an initial intake doesn't even knows my home address. I like it this way just fine.