My current T never takes notes. Not even the first time I saw him. He has been practicing for over 20 years so I guess he has his own system. He may jot down some clinical info in his files after session but I know he does not do it "between" sessions. He once told me that he keeps his notes on me in here (pointing to his head). He said he was very cautious about putting anything on paper that he could be forced to turn over to others (I guess by court order, etc.) and he felt strongly about protecting my privacy. I do think he would allow me to see my file if I asked him because there really is nothing to hide. I have no desire to ask though because our relationship is very transparent.

Old T took notes very rarely but he did a few times. The thing is: when I requested my notes via an attorney when he abandoned me and I was considering licensing board action, it took him NINE weeks to copy my session notes of 2.5 years and to drop them off with my current T. Once I read them I realized it took so long because he made them all up!

Perhaps he didn't realize that I journaled each and every session and what was discussed. None of his "notes" matched what actually happened in our sessions. His notes were vague and just downright inaccurate and stupid. A reflection on his incompetency to be sure. Things like when I revealed trauma, when my mom died, and even the last few sessions were omitted or lied about. His notes said that I decided upon his advice to leave and work with another T. The truth was that I was harshly abandoned in a very abrupt way and I was left with no other T and no support. The outcome was PTSD. So I have very little faith in any notes a T would take.

TN