Do you use real names/enough info for a therapist to report someone else?

No, I wouldn't be crazy enough to do that.

I usually use first names, never thought about using fake ones. Do Ts really make reports based on second-hand info like that? Like if you say "I'm worried my friend B will hurt himself" and T knows who it is, T could call it in? That doesn't seem right to me.

I use first names when referring to people in my life. They only get named if they come up repeatedly or their role in my life is... complicated.

I do not want my FOO contacted about me and they would not be hard to find for someone who knew my full name. I have a friend who holds a medical power of attorney for me (only valid if I can't speak for myself). I always list her as my emergency contact. She would tell me if someone spoke to her (and has), and I trust my providers to tell me before they contact her too (and they have). I have an explicit conversation about that with the provider if things are going that route.

I have a personal policy of honesty with my tdoc and pdoc, because if they don't know what's going on I'm wasting my money. Sometimes that's easier than others of course, but overall I don't have anything to hide. I'm not doing anything to endanger someone else. I'm quite open even with my SI thoughts. As an adult it's never backfired on me (it's different if you're a minor, the rules are different), if I focus on my overall goal is to feel better about myself and life.

He knows my husband’s name. Sometimes if I’m telling a story about a friend or someone else, I’ll include their first name if it’s starting to get confusing, but I don’t think he remembers those names from session to session. One time he asked the name of my and I told him his first name. That felt a little uncomfortable but also empowering.

What would you do if you have 2 people who have a role. I have 2 sons and 2 brothers, 2 best friends.. at one point I would refer to my sons as my oldest and youngest son. I found it could be confusion putting all the details together. Early in therapy a lot of my issues revolved around parenting and behavioral issues. From week to week T had a hard time remembering which was which. Using their names made a huge difference

There is no way I would remember fake names. One week hubby would be John, another Paul. Another Rick or Mark...

As far as emergency contact goes of there were and emergency I would want me husband to know. Once in a session with T I disasociated and pretty much came back to the present but I was extremely groggy I spent deep safe driving. I couldn't have a full conversation with hubby. So T called him.

Good question. I add a descriptor relevant to why I'm talking about them in the first place - Dead Aunt, Nice Aunt, Schizophrenic Aunt, etc. It doesn't matter that my Dead Aunt is named Joan, it matters because she's dead and I'm sad about it. (for instance)

T would never remember that Aunt Joan is the dead one.

But it only now occurs to me that this is kind of convoluted/wordy. I can see why one would use names in such a situation.

I usually use a first name. Names in my country can be quite long and first names aren't necessarily legal names.

I have only given identifiable names when:

1) A close friend sought therapy at the same clinic so T could check if they were assigned to her

2) A abusive former friend who is T's colleague because there was a huge chance I could run into her at an event held by the clinic where I would be one of the guests talking about lived experiences.

3) T asked the name of a well known therapist who harmed a close friend

Definitely NOT! I am a self-professed privacy freak.

I use first names only when I talk about other people in session.

Weirdly I don't think my therapist knows my legal last name. I pay for my sessions in cash and used my maiden name on my intake form & email correspondences.

There is no paperwork to fill in in my country (maybe if you see a therapist in a hospital? but I'm not sure) so the idea of writing down an emergency contact is odd to me but if a therapist had ever asked me about one, I would have made up a name. Hell, I didn't even give my last name to the therapists I saw (except my ex therapist who also had my address). For some reason they always insisted on having my last name and I never understood why since it's all paid cash and there is no insurance. So instead of pointlessly arguing, I would simply give a fake last name. My last name is really rare and while I don't believe I'm super fascinating I simply don't trust therapists not to blabber to other therapists and to keep my confidentiality. Experience has shown me I was right about that. As for people I talked about, I never used names since it would be odd to refer to, say, David when my therapist has never met that David. So I would just say "my mother" or "my girlfriend" etc. None of the therapists I saw ever asked me about the names of the people I was talking about. I don't see why they would have.

For about a year my therapist was a faculty member at my residency program and therefore sometimes taught didactics for the psych residents (I'm in a different department). This was no big deal until one of the psych interns took off her clothes and tried to seduce me and I started bonking another one of em. I never said either of their names but there are <10 a year so she definitely could have figured it out.

If she'd been someone who was in charge of evaluating them or someone they actually worked with to take care of patients I would have felt weird about it. But as it was, I figured it was just another weird thing for her to keep in her vault of shrink secrets.

I only use first names as well. They know my last name for insurance purposes so it wouldn't take much to figure out my hubby and kids last name.