[BeaFlower]

Hi all. I don't write in the particular forum often. I'm in therapy since almost three years with the same t for anxiety and OCD. I never had big problems with her and it has been very useful till now, especially OCD improved very much and also anxiety, though less. For the first two years I saw her every week, then, also because I was more busy, I began seeing her every two weeks or sometimes less. Now it's a couple times I see her once a month.
She started saying that we have probably done all we could (not exactly with these words, but I don't remember the exact sentence), that I have all the instruments I need to handle anxiety...and it's probably true, though I'd like to improve a bit more, but I don't know if it's possible, I already improved quite a lot. She said that if I have new things I want to work on we can, if not next time we could take an appointment later, for example in 2-3 months, just to check how I'm doing...do this one or two times and them stop with therapy, if we think we reached our goals.
This seems rational, but...I'm actually quite afraid of terminating I'm used at seeing her regularly now, and when something happens that gives me anxiety I always want that next appointment arrives soon so I can talk to her, even if in the meanwhile it got fixed. I don't know if I'm ready to stop...but I know that now or then it has to be done, if we don't have anything new to work on...also, in a couple month I'll probably start being busy with new things in another city and it will be difficult to find the time to go seeing her, I could just do it now and then in any case, but not regularly.
What do you think? How could I manage this? And how could I discuss it with her? I don't love the idea of telling her I'm afraid to stop seeing her

[WarmFuzzySocks]

What you wrote is very clear. I think your therapist will understand if you talk with her about this.

What if the new thing to work on is using your coping skills, getting ready to move into your new life/schedule in the other city, and seeing your t less often for check-ins?

[Miswimmy1]

It's normal to feel apprehensive about ending therapy. My best suggestion is to talk to her about her termination process. She will most likely want to work out some sort of plan (maybe that's cutting down sessions to monthly, maybe that's taking a couple months off and seeing how you do with the knowledge that you can always set up a check-in if you feel like you need it, etc.). It's rare that a therapist will just dump you. I think you will feel less apprehensive if you can work with your T to develop a plan for how you are going to terminate and what the time frame will look like.

Also, in my experience, the therapists I have seen have always assured me that if things get bad again, I can come back and they will take me back as a client. That reassurance was very helpful in allowing me to feel confident enough to take the leap and step away from therapy.

[BeaFlower]

Thank you both. Yes, probably I should talk to her next time. I just feel a bit embarrassed to let her see that I somehow got attached to her

[kecanoe]

Originally Posted by BeaFlower

Thank you both. Yes, probably I should talk to her next time. I just feel a bit embarrassed to let her see that I somehow got attached to her

I understand that embarrassment. I think that both getting attached to a T and being embarrassed by it are quite common.