Do you address your therapist by their first name?

Does he use your informal name or does he use a title and last name with you?

I address every adult by their last name and title, both older and younger, unless they invite me to call them by their first name or I have asked them. Some people, I will always call by their last name, out of cultural respect or because they are arses and I need to keep my distance to let them know how silly they look with their noses in the air.

My current therapist has a Ph.D and I started off calling her by her tittle. She invited me to call her by her first name but did not do so until I felt comfortable. It took about 9 months. My former therapist it was much quicker, 2 months.

I use their name a lot and they use my name a lot.

I would usually call them by their first name if I were to ever do call them by name.

I don't have much occasion to call him by name. Only when he's irritated me. As in, "Christ, Beavers. Write that down somewhere. Prominently."

And then, yes, I do use his first name. That's how he introduced himself. I would never call him Mr. Beavers unless I got the same courtesy. (Ms. Automobile)

I'm not actually convinced he remembers my name. I can't think when he's ever used it except when calling, and then he uses my whole name.

" This is Beavers from the Damn Clinic. Have I reached Argon Automobile?"

We both address each other by first name. I have a PhD and my T does not.

I'm going to be going back home for a few months and seeing an old T. I always called him Dr Lastname and I'll probably do the same now, because I was 16 when we first started working together. I wouldn't feel comfortable calling him by his first name.

I call my T by her first name and my pdoc by Dr last name it's how they introduced themselves to me

No. It's always Mr. S or Mr. His surname in sessions. Sometimes in emails though I write his first name.

I call her by her first name. But that's because I have therapy in English which isn't my native language. I asked her if that's OK and she said sure.
However if I had therapy in my native language I would use surname or, if we got really close and informal, first name and verbs in the formal form (making it relaxed and still showing respect). I would expect the same from them.

You can simply ask them what they prefer.

I haven't had any reason to address my T by name. If I tell about him to my spouse then I say both first name and last name. It would feel weird to me to use only the first name. Now when I think about it, I guess I always refer this way to people when I talk about them, unless they are a close acquaintance, a relative or a friend.

My education level is higher than my T's but he does not address me by my title. But I started to see him when I had not earned my degree yet. Another T I saw meanwhile, who also had lower education level than me, always addressed me by my title, whereas I addressed him also by his first name and last name. But that happened only in emails - I don't see any reason to address someone by name if there are only two persons in the room, and I guess neither did that T.

I call my t by her first name, as that is how she introduced herself.

I often greet her by name when I see her, or say “Bye/Thanks, T-Name,” when I leave, but that is how I greet or take leave of most people.

I hadn’t thought about this before. I never use any t’s name. I guess the first name seems too informal or familiar, and mr/ms last name seems awkward.

Both T's are LCSWs and referred to themselves by first name and sign texts and emails buy first name so that is what us. I see a psych NP for med management. Before that we use to be coworkers on a psychiatric inpatient unit. She always went by first name there so that is what we have always used.

I call mine Dr. _____. He calls me my name, and I probably could call him by his first name, but it's not really a big deal to me.

I don't really address my therapist by name. However, if I did, I would use her first name. She has referred to herself using her first name. I would find it strange to call her Ms. T.

Nah never ever. Not in all the years. Not in email. I just said it "oi you" lol. OK that bit is false. But nah. Never.

I call him by his first name, not that I have that many occasions to say it, except in emails. I can't imagine anything else.

The s thread had me thinking about when I used my therapist name and when she used mine. I mostly used it with my attachment therapist and rarely with my standby therapist.

I went back to a fe recordings and the use of names came about when I was not in an adult moment. It was like when a kid keeps calling mom [therapist name] even though mom is right next to them. The kid uses the name to make sure they are heard, ut more importantly to get what they want from the parent. Many times when my own kid was young I had to read between the lines to figure out what he wanted. Same thing was going on with my therapist.

The therapist use of my name was clearly to get my attention, to let me know the child [my name] was safe and secure. Interesting what some threads help a person figure out about their own press.

Thank you OP.

I use his last name in emails. I have never really addressed him by his name in session but I would choose his last name. However, I don't have therapy in English and in my native language you use different pronounses to address someone you are not close to and therefore you also use their last name.

I dont care what exams they have .I call them by their first names .

I’ve called most of my T’s by their first names, whether they be LCSW, LMHC, or PsyD. I felt much more connected to them when I got to call them that. It makes it feel less clinical. The two T’s I called Dr. ____ both did not last very long. One was a PsyD and was my only male T, and I couldn’t handle that. The other...well she was a PhD and she was just awful at her job. Straight up negligent. Funny...highest level degree made for the most incompetent therapist in my case...she might want to stick to research...

I have always called my therapists by their first names on occasion. Mostly I only call them by name in email or phone. I do call my psychiatrist Dr. LastNameHere by choice. I tend to think someone who insists they be called Dr. Whatever might be a bit cocky. But, that's just me casting judgment.

I don't have my PhD yet, so that's a bridge that won't need to be crossed for another 4 years (optimistically)

He has referred to me using my first name. I think even if I had my PhD it would be different though. In the context of therapy, I am talking to him about my personal issues, not as a scientist/academic, whereas he is "performing" the role associated with his PhD. The whole point of therapy is kind of that I'm open and vulnerable and he is a psychologist acting as a psychologist.

I think mentally referring to him as "Dr. [Last Name]" probably makes things easier for me, because I need boundaries and to be able to trust that he knows what he's doing and can handle what I tell him. I guess it's kind of the same principle as self disclosure... I'm glad he doesn't do much of it because I need to see him first and foremost as a professional psychologist. The more he humanized himself, the more doubts I would have about telling him things and trusting him to not judge me and to be able to handle it.

That's usually standard convention for giving you permission to address him by his first name.
If I'm emailing a professor for the first time I use "Dr. [Last Name]" to address them. Then if in their response they sign it with just their first name, that means I can address them by their first name from thereon out. If they sign it with "First Name Last Name" or "Dr. Last Name" that means I should continue to use their full title.

It seems outdated to address one another in formalities, very old fashioned. Sort of like wearing a business suit to the office on a daily basis. He doesn't call me "Miss" so I don't call him "Dr.".

Not that old fashioned is bad, just feels awkward.

It’s important to me that my therapist and I are on a first-name basis. For me it’s part of our non-hierarchical relationship. Plus I really hate the medical profession, so any whiff of quasi-medical “Dr x” stuff is really unappealing to me.