How long would you wait for a therapist?

If your therapist weren’t there at the appointment time, how long would you wait for them to show up? Say you don’t know where they are or even if they’re coming.

It used to be in academia there was a hierarchy system that determined how long students would wait—30 minutes for a full professor, 20 for an associate, and so on.

I’ve waited for a doctor upwards of two hours. I’ve waited 30 minutes twice for a therapist (different therapists).

I’m not interested in if they make up the time. Just how long you would wait if they were late and you didn’t know when to expect them.

I waited for a medical doctor for an hour and a half (I had an appointment)
I wasn’t happy about it and only did it to get asthma meds I desperately needed

With t I think I’ve waited up to twenty minutes but without a text or email I think I’d only wait up to 15. And I’d text him “I’m here where are you?”

Anything longer than 30 minutes is disrespectful to a patient unless they make efforts at contact. Just my opinion.

I've come to a point that I won't wait longer than 20 minutes for anybody if there's no declared emergency. I'm always polite with front office staff and just tell them that as the appts are running late, I'd prefer to reschedule. It's never happened with a T, however.

Mine is ALWAYS late, from 10 to 25 minutes every week. In fact I almost congratulated her for being somewhat early today, but I restrained myself. Her tardiness is something I learned ti get used to.

Wait, what? You folks have waited 30 mins? Holy......

The longest I've waited is for Blondie, around 10 mins. There was no uncertainty in terms of my knowing where she was -- since I see her late in the evening, her car is in the lot and so is the previous client's car.

So, unless she'd been bopped off by the previous client or vice versa, I could safely assume that she'd emerge at some point.

I doubt I'd wait more than 15 mins or so max even then unless there was some communication in the interim -- mostly because I'd be pissed as heck at being kept waiting for that long.

Medea was scary punctual to the minute.

I dont have a set amount of time I wait. some days Im impatient and right on the dot check in with the receptionist 1. to make sure I have the right day and time and 2 to find out if the therapist is running late.

Usually if a therapist is later than a few minutes they call in to their receptionist to find out if their next client is waiting. at least mine usually does.

I sometimes will call the day before my appointment (with in the 24 hour window my insurance company requires of me any time I need to cancel. I will leave a quick message verifying the date and time of my appointment, that way my treatment provider knows I will be there on time. my therapist also notifies me when they may have a problem on their end that may affect whether I have to wait or cancel.

I usually wait 15-20 minutes for anyone who is late, if there is not other information.

Sometimes 30 for my primary care doc, but I suppose there is "other information" there. She often runs late because she doesn't rush patients when she is with them. I either schedule first thing in the morning or make sure my schedule can accommodate a wait.

I once waited an entire session for my last T, and it turned out she wasn't even in that day, she totally forgot we had an appointment. She was an older lady, who ran her own practice, so I wasn't really upset. Just sort of disappointed.

Then again, I didn't have a phone or my own transportation at the time, so I was really just waiting until my ride showed up again anyway. Very grateful to have a phone now!

I put 20 minutes...though I once waited close to 30 because I could hear her in there with another client...and I was like "maybe i got the time wrong?" Turned out that she had emailed me to go an hour later and I hadn't checked it.

10. Anything beyond that requires a courtesy, "I'm running late, sorry, please wait" call.

Your 30 minutes was long enough. I’ve waited 20 a few times for ex t. (I heard her running over with client before me). Never more than 20 because then ultimately I had places to be and couldn’t stay an extra 20 minutes at the end.

I go to great lengths to avoid these situations. Having said that, after 10 min I’d probably email her, wait an additional 5-10 for a response and then leave. Luckily, I see her during regular business hours, and there’s always an office admin there.

I don't wait any longer than 15 min for anyone unless they have contacted me to let me know they are running late.

This is the 21st century. There is no excuse for incorrect or missing information. "If you text me, do i not beep?!" Etc.

A random T, 15 minutes. My current one I'd give 20 minutes without some form of communication from him saying he's late. If he told me he was running late and I'd get my full time, I'd likely wait longer. He's only emailed me once to tell me he was going to be late and it was only 5 or 10 minutes.

Well, since I usually can't even get into the waiting room if my therapist doesn't buzz me in, it would probably depend somewhat on what the weather was like, how tired I was, and whether I needed to use the bathroom.

I'd probably email right at the session start time if he didn't respond to the buzzer (I'm usually there 5 minutes early), call after a few minutes, and hang out for 10 minutes if I was stuck outside with no word from him. Maybe extend that to 15-20 minutes if the door was ajar or one of the other shrinks let me in to sit in the waiting room.

If I left I'd probably stay nearby until the session time was over, though--I don't have anywhere else to be in that time period, may as well get coffee or sit in a park or something while I wonder what on earth happened to my therapist. And if he got back to me with an explanation and an apology, I'd probably stick around until he showed up if my work schedule was flexible enough that day.

I've waited two hours for a counsellor in a really overcrowded clinic. I had an appointment, everyone did, and everyone waited. Waited for 2 hours for a 15 minute session. Every single time.

For ex pdoc I regularly waited an hour or 1 1/2 hours every single time for my 15 to 30 minute appointment.

For my community mental health GP, I wait an average of an hour for my 5 minutes.

For T, she usually starts 5 minutes late. Once I waited 45 minutes before the clinic staff called her. Someone inpatient was in a severe crisis but since I'd waited 45 minutes with no info, I assumed she completely forgot me. If she runs over with the previous patient(s) (crisis or scheduling being late the whole day), I've waited up to 30 minutes.

Why didn't I reschedule for all these, especially the doctors? Because I couldn't. It would have counted as me no showing and the next available appointments would have been weeks later and I would run out of meds before then.

All in public healthcare. My sibling who sees private on my dime usually only has to wait 10 minutes max and they're usually punctual.

I would wait up to 30 min for my current T. In almost 2 years, the longest I’ve ever had to wait for him was 10 min, and that happened maybe 1-2 times and he apologized. He is always right on time or a couple min past (which I don’t even count as late in my mind), so if he left me waiting with no communication, I’d know it was for something serious and I wouldn’t be mad.

I put other. Usually it's about one minute. I come into the waiting room, sit down, take my headphones off, put them away. At that point I already here my T closing his window or washing his coffee mug, and by the time I'm done stashing stuff away he's coming to the waiting room. On rare occasions it's two or three minutes, if he has to use the bathroom or is busy. He's never made me wait more than five minutes.

I usually arrive around 10 minutes before my session would usually start and it most of the time seems like he is just waiting until I pop in. I think if he didn't show up for more than 5 minutes after my appointment time, I'd go knock... it would be very out of character.

Edit: for other Ts I have waited for up to 30 minutes. It bothers me a lot though and it's a reason why I dropped those Ts. I have other places to be, if you tell me to be there at a certain time, I expect the same from you. Time management is an important part of a Ts job and is not that hard that I have to regularly wait more than 5 minutes.

On the two occasions, this has happened. I message after 14-16 mins.

Then if he hasn't replied by 30 mins I'm .

T once forgot about our session. I waited a bit more than 25 minutes before he showed up, visibly distressed. I had intended to leave after 30 minutes.

I've waited up to 2hours for normal doctor appointments though... Just for the secretary to show up and tell me that the doctor still hasn't shown up and probably overslept. The doctor didn't bother to apologize the next time I saw him. I dumped him after that.

Una you're words are like poetry to me....

I would wait twenty minutes, but since my T is always on time I would be worried. If he kept me sitting for twenty minutes just by running late, I would be long gone bc he is completely inflexible with going over time in general. If we misunderstood the time or he ran late etc, and I was there but he wasn't, he would be so anxious my heart would go out to him. He expects a lot from me, but more from himself. If he made a mistake, I would be forgiving bc it never happens.

I would only wait 10 mins for a therapist then move on. The longest I've waited for my dr was 45 mins. Appointments are hard to get so it was worth it.

If she hadn't opened the door yet by 5 minutes after I would text and say "I'm here, we are scheduled for now right?" She is extremely, annoyingly haha punctual and always, always opens the door at session time on the dot!