My T does not take notes during session, but I know that notes are jotted down at the end of the day. I also know that I have a file where my records are kept, and any notes or letters I have given T are in that file.

I do think it would be distracting if T took notes, but then again, I want my T to be able to remember what I've talked about so to better guide me, and if taking notes is a must, then so be it! I would imagine there is a specific way that Ts are trained to remember what the client says with or without taking notes?

Hi
My T does not take notes, I would find that really distracting. I haven't asked her where she keeps my writing and other stuff I've done (I'm not sure I want to know) I just know she keeps it because a while back she mentioned she had been re-reading some of it. She is also very keen on just the focus on me when I'm there, no distractions and sometimes that even means therapy cat gets shut out of the room if he is showing off which he does sometimes, so 'this is your time' is her mantra

My T does take notes during the entire session. It is distracting because I find myself watching when she writes and editing what I say. It also feels like it depersonalizes our connection during session.

Just May Be = I love the bit about the therapy cat. I want a therapy cat!!

My T is a clinical psychologist so he is trained to take notes but the first session I had with him I said I did not like him scribbling away all the time. He has not done it since. He was utterly understanding. He explained he is trained to take notes and that he HAS to take notes or at least MAKE notes as he is an employee of the NHS and so they insist that I have a file and that I have a write up each session. Last week he told me he has got me a new file, so that the formal notes by him go in one, and the private stuff I write to him and give him go in another. This is because ANYONE in that building has access into the filing cabinet that he puts my formal notes into, incase they need to know about me too, but my other file, the private "mo to him" stuff can now be put in his own filing cabinet and he said he will actually put it in a large envelope with my name on and PRIVATE on it, so that it can get returned to me if anything should happen to him etc.

I thought this was really thoughtful of him.

I have since felt bad about asking him not to take notes as his memory is not brilliant and he often loses track of small things which are important to me, so now I make sure that he writes THOSE down, the ones I think he will forget.

My first T never took notes during session. I don't know if she wrote down something in between though. She did have an extremely good memory though and rarely forgot anything about me. She told me she has a very good memory for anything with emotional content attached. So if I told her something in a very neutral way, she might not remember it.

My current T does take notes during session, especially if I say something notable. I actually find it less intimating since she's not constantly staring at me. In spite of this though, she still remembers less about me than my last T and I have to remind her about stuff. I am OK with that though; I don't expect her to remember everything.

My oldT took notes at times. Especially in the first two or three sessions when we were getting to know each other. Then he took notes only a few times over 3 years when we were discussing something complex or "big". I know he did not write up anything after I left.

My current T has never taken a note at all. He may jot some very clinical notes to himself inbetween but he says that he does not need to write stuff because he remembers (he's pretty good at it) and also because the less written down the better if someone gets a hold of my records. Makes sense to me. SO I get the full impact of his attention in session... which can be good or bad LOL

TN

My T takes notes. every T i have been with has taken notes and I am used to it. I find that they are respectful and usually writes stuff when there is a logical break. If i was upset or the topic was especially heavy or serious, T wouldn't be writing then. Sometimes I say something serious, or major or sad or traumatic or whatever and T writes something and I will say "I just KNEW you were going to go crazy when I said that" - I usually laugh or make a joke. If I ever mention SU or SI - I think T's are obliged to document you saying it - and I always notice T writing something.

sometimes it is good when T writes - because she isn't looking at me.

Both my Ts take notes (one shares notes with the other) and it doesn't disrupt anything. Though, when I hear any part of my notes read I am triggered because the clinical removedness of them makes me feel awkward and bad. Like a whole 50 minutes of baring my soul may be represented as "client talked about work, insomnia, feeling negative about self". Or something and meanwhile for me it's this intense emotional thing I feel like my T was "with me" for. My T also writes stuff down for use with EMDR. In my job I do the same thing (write summaries of people/progress and it's very removed too so I try to remember that Both of my Ts have fantastic memories and I think the notes help in looking at the big picture and also for insurance.

Nope my T never writes notes but I know she has a file.

My T takes notes every single session. It was really weird when I first started working with him, because my first T didn't take notes during sessions. She would create notes after the session was over. So at one of our first sessions, I remarked on the fact that he was taking notes. He immediately focused in on it and asked if it bothered me. It did a little, but I just told him it was unusual because my first T hadn't done it. He told me I was welcome to see what he was writing anytime. I never have looked at his notes. Oddly enough, even though I know the notes are ABOUT me, I feel like their HIS notes. I think I felt scared to encounter what Cat found, that they would sound too detached.

I no longer even notice him taking notes. Every once in a great while, I'll suddenly realize it and think "what did I just say?" But he also is NOT taking notes when my emotions are really intense. My main sense is that he jots down the stuff he wants to remember so he can make sure he retains the important stuff. He's told me that he struggles with his memory sometimes.

AG

When I first saw my T he was doing an assessment for another doctor and he wrote notes for the two appointment assessment. Later he had to write a letter to the referring doctor outlining his suggested diagnoses and treatment suggestions. Six months later I started seeing him for a therapy and I never saw him write anything. After some time I asked him if he wrote any notes or just remembered everything I said and he told me he wrote notes after the session. He has an incredible memory for what I tell him, rarely forgets a name or relationship I tell him about and sometimes quotes me word for word months after a session. It freaks me out how much of my life he carries in his head.

My T scribbles notes all through my session. It doesn't distract me much, I just keep babbling while she writes. It amazes me how well she can keep listening and maintaining a conversation while she's writing. I guess it's fine with me if it works for her.

She said she'll destroy her notes when we're done working together if I want, and I do intend to ask her to do that. Sometimes I feel a little paranoid about all the documentation.

My T used to take notes more often throughout sessions, but not all the time, just here and there. I found it distracting, so he rarely does it anymore. Usually, he does it after session. He has told me that he usually does a standardized sheet to track the general feel and the basic content of each session. I'm sure if there were something that was really important, he would note in more detail, because there are times when he does so even though he rarely takes notes in session anymore. He described his form to me in a Skype session we were doing once. He told me that there is a section for the predominant affect of the session and he often feels like he has to circle most or all of them with me. There is also a section for my level of distress and he also feels like he could circle all of those almost every time. It may have been one of our discussions about my being complicated, but in a good way, or maybe when we were discussing diagnosis.

Anyway, a lot of our session is now focused on connecting (T and me, me and other parts, T and other parts) and for him to write when that is going on or stuff is coming up would be pretty much impossible and very distressing in many cases. I know he still fills out those forms for me every session, but I wouldn't expect to find a lot more than summary in them, as he has shown me one before when I was paranoid about what he was jotting down (it was my name and the date ). However, I do send him my journals regularly. I journal less often than I used to, because it has gotten a bit easier to tell him things "live" or at least to sit with them until I am ready to tell him verbally. However, when I do journal, it is often several pages, as I only get time to do it once a week at most and a lot of different things might build up. So, if I were to look at one of these journals, which is printed out, it is all marked up like I'm back in school. There are underlines, circles, asterisks by points he finds to be very significant, notes for questions he had about what I wrote or sometimes if I have asked a question to him, his answers, thoughts that come up as he is reading. It's kind of embarrassing, because he obviously puts a lot of time into reading, thinking about and noting on my journals in addition to the in-session time. There have been times when he isn't done reading one before a Skype session and he'll ask for "five minutes" to finish the last couple paragraphs, but then it takes him 15 or something, so I am painfully aware of how much time it probably takes to go through one of these entries. Admittedly, that might be more about his own process (I don't know if his ADD limits him or he likes to go back and reread other things and make linkages or anything)...or he may just have other things that popped up during that period and it really only takes the five minutes.

Anyway, the short answer is. Yes, my T takes notes, but rarely during sessions right now. He makes vastly more notes on my journal entries than he seems to for our sessions. I think he might have actually taken notes on our last session while sitting right next to me, but I was so dissociated, I didn't notice. I know he had a list of topics from me that he had noted on that we were going over and I think he was noting on it, which was appropriate, since the conversation was focused on basic safety.

My current T doesn't take notes. I like that. I have worked with other T's who have taken notes and I've found it really distracting. I think I mentioned it to one, who then stopped taking notes as result of my telling her that it bothered me. I don't think that I felt any better because I felt I was interrupting her own process and ability to hear me. The T that I am working with now is not a note taker and she has an excellent memory. I have been surprised that she has even remembered all the names of my friends and family members. She also seems to hold a much better timeline than I, with an ability to remember where I was emotionally in weeks or months past. I find it rather amazing, because I don't seem to remember half the information that she seems to hold in her head about me.

None of my Ts have taken notes in the past and current T doesn't either. She did do some activities with me early on, in the first month or so, of me seeing her which I'm guessing helps her remember pretty much everything about me. In session, we did a little family tree of some sort and we (she wrote I talked) named all the names of my immediate family and my extended family, which took like half the session since my mom is one of 9 and my dad was one of 6. We only did aunts and uncles and grandparents for the extended family cos cousins would have taken like another hour! Out of session, she gave me a little homework assignment and had me do a timeline of my life and to write down all the important events, good and bad. During sessions though, she always has a notebook type thing that she takes out of her desk but she never writes in it while we're interacting. I'm sure she probably takes notes when I leave. Either that or her memory is just that good

No notes from my T, but I know there is a BIG file somewhere.
He is in costa rica surfing and hopefully I am the last thing on his mind cuz he really needed to charge those attunement batteries.

My last T (T2) used to scribble throughout the entire session. My current T (T1) doesn't take any notes during our sessions. I think maybe 20 years ago she may have had a notepad in front of at times, but I don't think she ever actually wrote anything. That was when she was just starting out and probably thought she was supposed to be taking notes, but that's not her style. So now 20 years later, she doesn't ever pretend to take notes. She might scribble things down after but I doubt it. If she does, its probably just the names of people I mention in my session if a new person crops up in my life. She's pretty disorganized and loosey goosey. T2 was very "by the books" and recorded literally everything.

So much of my communication with T1 takes place in texting anyway. I don't see how she could possibly keep up with that.

He rarely writes a note in session-maybe 2 or 3 times in 2 plus years.

He told me he writes all his notes at the end of each day after his last appointment. Maybe your therapist does this too?

I've browsed through my file from time to time. The notes are pretty brief; usually a few bullet points about stuff that stands out to him from session.

Some therapists think it's a bad idea to take detailed notes due to confidentiality issues. If the therapist was forced to give the file as a result of an insurance company request, court, etc., you wouldn't want to disclose people's most intimate experiences, feelings, thoughts, or secrets-things maybe they never told anyone else before.

One reason is that stuff can be seriously taken out of context, especially with depth therapy. Example-if someone told their therapist about a murderous fantasy (my T said some people experience anger this way), and it was written in a file, people could take that way out of context.

Good question to ask.

quote:

Originally posted by xoxo:

He told me he writes all his notes at the end of each day after his last appointment. Maybe your therapist does this too?

I will ask him again about it, although it didn't sound like he did. Maybe he doesn't have that many clients (I hope I don't sound too hopeful here lol!)? I did hear the receptionist once talking about his clients for the afternoon and he keeps 1 free hour in between the appts. Could have been a coincidence though, or just a way to avoid clients meeting each other, but I guess it also helps information from being scrambled... No idea.

But part of me is happy that he has to carry me in his head

Yes, my T has a sheet she fills out every session. She is careful not to write while I am talking or we're in the middle of the conversation, so I actually don't always know what she is writing (as she will do some writing 5-10 min after something came up). One time she went to get water and I saw the form, as she left it out on the table and the first item on her sheet was "appearance of client." She tracks many things, med changes/current meds, my mood, appearance, feelings/thoughts, goals, stressors, my friends/outside connections, hobbies/what makes me happy....deep down I love that she does this. Sometimes it makes me anxious, though, like if she is flipping her main sheet over and filling something else out (then I wonder what is it, who is it for, ... those things).