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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mac,

Welcome to the forums, MacLove! It is good to "meet" you. I look forward to getting to know you better.

Thank you for sharing this experience you had with hearing your T differently when you listened to the recording. I'm glad it's had such a profound effect on you, and has helped you to see a side of your T you were hoping was there, but just couldn't see when you were right there in the "spotlight", so to speak. It makes me wonder now how much of what is coming from my T that I am missing (and what I missed from my other T).

I look forward to hearing how it goes with you telling him your new insights in your next session. I hope it opens new doors for you in your therapy.

Oh, BTW, your post wasn't even close to being "long". About average for this forum. We all of us are very understanding with long posts!

SG

quote:

I hope it opens new doors for you in your therapy.

That's very sweet of you, thank you!!

Welcome MacLove!

Thank you all for your responses!

Thinking about it more, I’m pretty conflicted about telling him. I don’t want him to all of a sudden be more guarded and not talk as openly because I’m recording it. If I tell him that I'm recording next session, and then I feel like he sounds less caring and more towards a “blank slate” that would be pretty devastating since I just found out he cares about me. But I think it would be very awkward if I’ve been recording for months and then all of a sudden say, “Oh, by the way I’ve been recording our session for months. Sorry I forgot to tell you!” Good thing I have a whole 6 days till our next session to think about this.

I’ll hopefully have some good things to report next Tuesday.

Maclove

Welcome MacLove!

Hi Maclove,
Welcome to the forums!

AG

Welcome, MacLove! I have only recorded a session once (last session with previous therapist), and I also found it to be enormously helpful, for the same reason you described, and also because it was helpful to hear how I sounded, which was not at all what I expected. (When I listened to the recording I could hear him sniffling and his voice cracked at the end of the session. He was crying and I didn't even notice! In all fairness, I wasn't wearing my contacts that day and he was just a blurry figure sitting in a chair.) I wish I had been recording all along.

May I suggest that you simply ask your T if he minds if you record sessions, not mentioning that you already did it once unless he asks? And then depending on how he reacts, you can say what you just said above in your first post?

MacLove, welcome!
By the way, I think if it was me, I would do like echo said in her post. Check out first if it's safe to tell him. I never recorded a session. It actually didn't even cross my mind. I think I would be really appalled hearing myself talk in session. I could not stand it. It could turn out that I am totally different then I am trying to present myself in front of my T. I would be so ashamed. The other reason is I would be absolutely terrified to do this without telling him, and if I did I would feel guilty, frightened and awfully anxious. That would be unbearable to have this kind of secret from him.
I don't intend to tell here that recording sessions is inappropriate and you shouldn't do this. Sometimes therapists record session for some purposes. It's just that it would freak me out too much to even attempt it.
Let us know how your next session goes.
It was great to ready about how you realised that there was so much goodness, caring and love in your T's voice. It's wonderful that you realised he cares about you.

I remember that my T would sometimes (especially when I was in a child-like state) talk to me so gently and slowly, like to a small and frightened child. I love him for that.

Hey MacLove, welcome aboard the good ship Shrinkforum...I think it's great you got so much out of doing this...I wish I could so much, sometimes, boy do I wish I could...I feel like I pay for it and lose so much of it, it is frustrating...but like Amazon

quote:

It's just that it would freak me out too much to even attempt it.

hee,hee, I'm kinda with you on it Amazon...
too freaked out and can't stand even re-reading my own emails to him! groan...

BB

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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mac,

Welcome maclove,

Thanks for sharing this. I've thought about recording my sessions, too, and now, hearing about your experience, I might bring it up with my T.

May I ask exactly why kind of microphone you have? Is it something like the SwitchEasy Thumbtack? Was it just connected to your iPod? I have an iPod.

Thanks,
Russ

Do all ipods record? I have an ipod touch and I used an app called iRecord with it.

This is the mic that I used-

http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ...38631&pf_rd_i=507846

Thanks, Maclove.

I'm not sure if all iPods record, but I know the classic does, which is what I have.

Thanks for the link!
Russ

quote:

Originally posted by Russ:


May I ask exactly why kind of microphone you have? Is it something like the SwitchEasy Thumbtack? Was it just connected to your iPod? I have an iPod.

Thanks,
Russ

Hey Russ, I have the switcheasy thumb tack mic for my ipod touch. It seems to record great, but then suddenly there will be a buzzing sound over the recording, that gradually gets louder and louder until I can't hear the original recording any more. I don't know if this is a flaw of the mic or the ipod, or something to do with it being too close to another piece of electronics (my cell phone in my purse?)...

Do you have this mic? What do you think of it?

And I record with the Voice Memos app, if anyone is interested. MacLove - how do you like your mic and the app you use?