[confused_77]

I am curious: Does your T ever mention other clients, even just briefly and within confidentiality rules or say things like: 'a lot of people feel that way', ,'this comes up often in therapy', 'you are not the only one feeling that'. This has never ever been the case for me. I wonder if its part of T training to make the patient feel like they are the only person going through something. I get it, everyone has their own story, needs a slightly different approach but arent the themes people come with repetative. I think in any job you have the same recognisable paterns. It makes me feel silly and stupid, because i buy into it - the only person in the world struggling like that, and for T its 'next please' after an hour!

[LostOnTheTrail]

'Without breaking confidentiality, I can say that a lot of people struggle with boundaries.'

I think it's a natural desire to normalise things, for a good therapist, anyway. I think it's expected that some of the same 'themes' crop up, but a good therapist or counsellor....or so it seems to me...would take a holistic point of view, and look at the person in front of them rather than the issue.

[Ididitmyway]

Yes, my Ts did mention other clients in general terms mostly. This is a gray area. Ts need to be careful to make sure they don't breach clients' confidentiality, but it's appropriate to talk about it in general terms to normalize a particular client's experiences.

[Rive1976]

Yes mine does. Just sharing others experiences when relevant to mine. Never any names or identifying traits.

[stopdog]

The woman did it. I have no idea why. I usually just told her to stop talking because stuff like that was so absolutely pointless to me.

[SlumberKitty]

My former T would on occasion mention another client (not by name or any identifiable information) but by saying something like, "I had another client struggle with this and they found x,y,z helpful. Is that something you'd be willing to try?" Etc. It didn't really bother me one way or the other. It's not like I knew the person. It's also not like the other person would know me if she spoke about me in their session. Shrug. Kit

[kaleidoscopeheart]

Occasionally. Nothing specific. No identifiers. Usually to normalize my behavior when I am trying to push him away.

[JaneTennison1]

She used to say sometimes "do you think other people struggle with that?" Until I told her I hated when she said that. I told her I knew she was trying to normalize my feelings but it felt so dismissive. She hasn't said it since.

[fouracres]

I have asked my T for reassurance in this way (“I’m not the only person you’ve ever seen who does this, right?”) It’s usually when I’m feeling vulnerable or confused about something, and T always obliges with the reassurance in an appropriate, non-identifiable way.

[DP_2017]

Mine did quite a bit but it wasn't generic like your examples. He would actually say like "This woman came in the other day and..." or he would tell me how "I had a guy storm out in anger, just yelled at me, cussed and left" so it wasn't exactly indeitifying but he for sure gave more info than he probably should have

[SummerTime12]

Yeah my T does this sometimes, but never with any identifying info. It doesn’t bother me usually; idk why but I only dislike him doing this when it relates to CSA trauma, it sort of makes me feel like what I went through wasn’t bad enough to be worth talking about.

On another note, I always wonder what he says about me to other clients, or if he says anything at all.

[confused_77]

Its interesting. Because in my one and a 'half' experiences with therapy it was never the case. It would more be me saying: 'i think what i experience is typical' or "im sure people come here with similar issues' but the therapist treated my like the only client in earth. Never comparrison or mention of other people.

[ChickenNoodleSoup]

My T mentions clients from time to time. But maybe three or four times in two years, so not thaaat often. The two I remember is one time he told me about one of his clients who uses cold showers to help during anxiety attacks and another one was a young guy who apparently came in and started to listen to music while in session.

My first T never did in our interactions but talks about his clients (anonymously) and presents stories on his online media very frequently. Usually in the context of how wonderful and helpful a therapist he is. It is nauseating.

Second T did a few times in session, in the context of what I was sharing but not really to normalize... more to contrast sometimes. I did not mind unless it took too much time. More frequently, he emphasized how unique and unlike any stereotype or common client I was, how I did not fit in any easily discernible pattern - I did not like that at all, it sounded like he used those arguments to justify that he had no clue what to do with me and that's what most people have told me in my whole life already. The way he most often tried to make my experiences relatable was comparing them with himself. Often excessively and not exactly realistically. I really would just prefer discussing things without these "techniques".

[LonesomeTonight]

Ex-T and ex-MC maybe mentioned other clients a handful of times over 6 and 4 years. Current T mentions them more often, sometimes as example of things, like "I have this one client who has opposite political views to mine, and I'll let him talk about his views, but I don't engage with him on any sort of political debate." That was related to a discussion we were having. Things like that are fine with me, though as someone else said, I wonder if he ever uses me as an example with other clients and what he says.

The one time it *did* bother me (and I told him) was pretty early on in seeing him when he said I think about therapy and the therapeutic relationship more than pretty much any of his other clients do. It made me feel awkward. Part of what I said in response to that is that maybe some think about it, they just don't tell him. Him, and I guess he also said I was the first client to ask for transitional object. But before I did that, he'd told me about a client who stole a stone from his office and used to hold it, and only told him about that in his final session. OK, I guess he talks about other clients a fair amount...but not in identifiable terms. (He once said he avoids details to the extent that if he was talking about me to my H, even my H shouldn't be able to realize it's me--not that he'd talk to my H about me, was just an example of how careful he is with not giving identifying details).

No she never compares. I've tried to, but she holds firm that my session is my session. It doesn't matter about others and what they've experienced.

[Lemoncake]

R never does, and I'd hate it if he did- as he knows i'm jealous of them.

[velcro003]

Yes my T brings up other clients occasionally, always in relation to me in some way.