Tissues-what do you do?

I find it interesting how many us don't see a waste bin in the office! Is there some subtle message -> take your tears with you...

I'm surprised at how many people take their tissues with them. There's a small trash can near where I sit (right next to the tissues). I know that there is a cleaning crew who empties the trash since one time it was in the wrong spot and my T said they must have moved it. I feel needlessly awkward about a lot of things, but it never occurred to me not to toss my used tissues when I am through with them.

I let the tears flow and don't wipe them until I'm done crying. It seems like it's more of a catharsis this way, not trying to remove the emotional response. I understand those that wear makeup wanting to rid themselves of the tears quickly, but I don't see the point in makeup either. When I choose, or even if I choose to wipe them, I do throw the tissues away. I'm done with the tears at that point and don't need them any more.

I never wipe away tears on a tissue, although for me runny eyes means runny nose. So I do sneeze a lot if I'm emotional.

Pdoc has a box somewhere in his office, or at least some of the time.. so I bring my own if I remember to do so.
T should have one, but she doesn't have an office of her own (no one does in that practice), so it's happened that the previous occupant threw out the box and didn't replace it. She always has a travel pack somewhere in her purse, though.

I stuff them in my pocket and throw them out later.

With my previous therapist I used her shoulder I always left it wet and sometimes snotty. She told me it was okay so I never worried about it or apologized after the first time. Twice, when I wasn’t crying , but had a few tears roll down my cheek she reached for the Kleenex and lovingly wiped them away. I have no idea if she had a wastecan in her office, but I suspect she did.

With my standby therapist she handed me a kleenex once or twice though they were near me, when I had a few tears rolling down my cheeks. Maybe, I didn’t reach for the box because I expected her to wipe them for me.

Ha, this is a good question. I too take my tissues with me. If I don't have pockets, I stuff them in my purse, or just keep them balled in my hand. I don't know why. I haven't used any with my current T. In fact, I hadn't let out a single tear with her until today. Anyway, I have only ever used a max of two - one for my eyes and one for my nose. I refuse to wipe my face with a snotty tissue. If it's just a brief trickle, or a single tear from one eye (like today), I don't use a tissue at all. It's too much effort. The tissue box is directly in front of me. I haven't looked for the trashcan. I noticed T reached for a tissue today. I think she had something sticky on her fingers. I noticed her plucking at the tissue out of the corner of my eye. Or maybe she was trying to draw my attention to the tissue box, since my left eye was about to yield a tear. I don't know. I think there was something on her fingers.

Honestly, what is it with Ts and the open weave baskets for trash cans? I think I'm maybe a bit of a stickler for hygiene because I never felt like tossing my used tissues - or anything else - into the basket my longtime T had. I mean, it's not like they can clean the basket, and there aren't trash bags for baskets, as far as I know. It just seems like a weird, therapisty sort of quirk to use a basket as a trashcan... I've never seen it anywhere else.

Mine has an open-weave trashcan, but it has a plastic bag liner, so that makes me feel better. Are you saying yours uses an actual basket, rather than a wicker trashcan?

I guess they can hose them out? Plus they do have to look at it all day long. This way they look at a nice woven artifact, not an ugly piece of plastic.

Mine too , I told my T I can`t cry , but a few weeks ago I welled up and ask for a tissue and my T said it is ok I have plenty more.

O__ and has a lined trash basket.

I would welcome the release so I can move on , just afraid I might lose it so bad , I would never come back.

I know weird , O___ well

Keyplayer 

I don't see a problem with a basket as trash receptacle. Why would a basket be any more or less germy than any other type of bin? I never wash out my trash bins. I don't go rummaging around in them for no good reason, or eat out of them, or keep my tooth brush in them- they collect trash, I empty them and go on. If someone has something in their office they collect trash in - why would I worry about it? It is their office and if it works for them then it is fine with me. How does hygiene even enter into the picture?

I think the issue is that there's no liner that can just be pulled out and dumped, leaving the open weave without gunk on it from used tissue. Maybe I am in the minority, but I clean my kitchen trash can inside and out, even though I also use a liner. It gets gross otherwise.

I just don't see it as a problem unless the client was going to handle the basket. And why would a client handle it? I don't see germs as that big of deal and certainly not from a bin/basket I am not handling. I don't think there would be a lot of gunk from crying, some but not massive amounts not handled by the tissue.

Only trouble I can see: mesh trash can = puke colander.

Do a lot of people throw up at the therapist's office in their basket container? It might be possible - but is it all that probable?

I see a poll in the near future...

not from me. I am not all that fascinated by bodily functions.

I've been full on sobbing body heaving sorry crying before. I take the tissue out with me when I leave for some reason

Snotty*****

I have taken sodden tissues with me. Ihave left them in a bin at other times. I have put them in my bag on other occasions...... and last but not least I have cried buckets of tears and snot into this very large stuffe, that I take to therapy with me, and wash him when I get home.

This has fascinated me on all sorts of levels and i have many more questions to ask just deciding whether to keep them here or make separate threads for them