[wheeler]

My T, who is an LICSW, refers to the people she works with as ‘patients’. It drives me crazy! Maybe it’s her way of keeping her distance, but it bothers me.

As I am not ‘sick’ I don’t feel like ‘patient’ is the correct when typically used by an MD.

Am I overreacting? We have talked about it a bit but she hasn’t budged. She is pretty forthcoming with info about herself, when appropriate, so I don’t understand her choice with this.

[Argonautomobile]

I'd be interested to hear more about why she "won't budge." I think there's an interesting conversation about how she views therapy to be had. Does she think you're sick, I wonder?

My T has used both, I think? I have a hard time bringing myself to care about his word choice - but then, I see him at a medical clinic and don't really have a problem with psychotherapy as a medical treatment. For me the medical model legitimizes it. I'm okay being "sick" because, well, what's the alternative conception of my problems? That I'm just an asshole?

But I think one has the ability and right to frame their issues in whatever way one wishes. A conception shouldn't be thrust upon anyone by me - or by one's T.

[Echos Myron redux]

My T says client. I wouldn't like the term patient. He's not a doctor and I'm not sick. I can fully understand why it bothers you so much.

[JaneTennison1]

I am a client as she is not a Dr. I don't consider myself a patient unless I am seeing a Dr. I don't know what she calls me

[1stepatatime]

My therapist refers to her clients as patients, I definitely do not like it. I have told her that I am not sick so why would she refer to me as a patient? And very importantly, she is not an MD so to me it is just inappropriate.

[maybeblue]

I'm pretty sure my therapist uses "client." I do, and I think it's generally more appropriate than "patient." However, if you use health insurance to pay for the therapy, then I could make the case for "patient" too. In order for insurance to pay there has to be a diagnosis. If it is self-pay though, it really should be "client."

[ChickenNoodleSoup]

My T says patient. I don't think it's the best wording, but he's an older doctor, and is probably used to it from working in different fields of health care. I don't mind much, so it's fine. The guy only discovered the internet a few years ago, so...

[Shazerac]

I don’t view myself as a patient even with medical doctors. I’m a client paying for services rendered. That being said, mental illness technically is...an illness....and in that frame of reference we are “sick.”

However if this is really a sticking point for you...perhaps you need to find another therapist and make it clear in the very beginning that you don’t view yourself as patient and do not want to called a patient.

[nottrustin]

I voted client. Where I work people that are seen within the hospital are called patients and. Those seen outside the hospital are clients

[mcl6136]

My old manipulative (Neo-Freudian) shrink insisted on being called DOCTOR Ryan and insisted that I was a patient.
He also talked about my wounds.
Now I am seeing a counselor with wisdom to share.
We concentrate on happiness and wellbeing.
I have made more progress in the last two years working with her than I have in the last two decades with ego-driven old white men who have a doctor/patient model and problems bigger than I ever could have brought to the table.
No more prescription pads, no more "extra appointments' to pay their mortgages or their kids' college tuitions!
Good riddance to them!
Free at last, free at last, Lord God Almighty I am free at last!

[InnerPeace111]

My T is a LCSW and I am a client. If she called me her patient, it would feel condescending. You are not overreacting in the least. It’s a misrepresentation of her credentials.

[SalingerEsme]

My T has a PH'D and he says patient. I also don't like it, as we are age and educational peers in most ways.

The counsellors/therapists I have had have used either "client" or "service user", none of them have used patients to describe me.

[fille_folle]

My Ts have always used "client." However, it wouldn't bother me if they used "patient." I have diagnoses that require treatment. If that makes me "sick," that's ok. I also don't think patient always implies sick, anyway. I mean, when I go for an annual physical, I am a patient and I am also not sick.

[unaluna]

Its never been an issue for me and my t? The only misunderstanding we ever have along this line is when he says, "Come into my suite" and i respond, a la Jethro Bodine to his Miss Jane Hathaway, "Okay, DARLIN'!" Which still cracks me up every time. Thats my idea of cultural literacy. Cuz Jethro thought Miz Jane was asking him, "How do you like your bedroom, sweet?" Everybody knows there IS no sanity clause. Im doing my taxes and completely flipped out.

[Taylor27]

I am a client to the mental health clinic and my pyschologist perferes client too

[starfishing]

My therapist consistently uses "patient," which doesn't bother me in the slightest, though now I'm a little curious what he would say if I asked about it. He's a psychiatrist, which I think tends to stack the deck more firmly in terms of "patient" language over "client" as a general rule.

I sometimes think the use of "client" is unhelpful in how it ignores some of the power differential that's inherently possible in the therapy relationship--it pretends things are more even and reciprocal than they are. And a bad therapist can say "client" until they're blue in the face and still be a condescending, paternalistic nightmare, while saying "patient" doesn't prevent someone from having a collaborative, respectful approach.

There are also plenty of settings where someone can be a patient without being sick; I think it says more about a responsibility for care rather than automatically implying illness. I'm a patient when I get a physical, or go to the dentist, or get my eyes examined. But even so, I can definitely understand being bothered by "patient" in therapy since client is definitely the dominant default in that arena these days, at least that I've seen.

[Apollite]

Whenever I deal with doctors or any other kind of health care professional, mental health or otherwise, I've always seen myself as a patient. To me, the term "client" implies that you have at least a bit of autonomy, whereas being a patient means that you don't.

I think this is because of my social anxiety, Aspergers and lack of confidence. It seems like these people have all of the control and that I'm totally powerless. I hate feeling this way because it means that my interactions with them are always fraught with worry.

My psychiatrist uses patient, but my therapist does not. They usually just say "people I am seeing", but have said client a few times. They have never referred to me directly as a client.

I may be in the minority but I prefer the term "patient". There are disorders I've been diagnosed with which cause me a lot of grief, and so I am battling something. A lot of the traumas and symptoms are either held in or experienced by the body. By thinking of myself as a patient I can view my therapy as undergoing treatment to 'cure' those problems, at which point I would no longer need to be a patient.

The term "client" feels too permanent to me. In my mind it would mean that what I am struggling with will always be there, because I could always be a client.

[Jazz1971]

I understand using the term "patient" when the provider is an MD or a nurse, but never a therapist. With a therapist it feels like a misrepresentation of services if they call the people they see anything other than "client".

Never been to anyone who's called me a patient, except psychiatrists. Never would, either.

Current T has also referred to me as his employer and boss.

My t is an LPC and uses 'client' which is what I prefer.

[stopdog]

I refer to myself as a client even for mds. It is their ego that is stroked by the term patient. Even if a therapist used the word patient at me- I would simply reiterate client and go on. Those people want to think they are more important than they are.

[healinginprogress]

My T uses, and I prefer client. Although, to be honest, I can't remember she's ever referred to me in person as either client or patient, it's only in her written information that it comes up. I've referred to myself as her client before.

I also associate the word patient with medical tasks and although I consider mental health to be medical, too, it just feels different. ::shrug::

[88Butterfly88]

My ts have all said clients and I prefer the term client.