Poll How Do You Leave Therapy?

[Kas_Can_Fly]

I was just reading a blog post, where the writer was talking about a therapy session and at the end of the post they described the way they left -they always had toast (obviously a very different building to where I go) and then they said goodbye and lef, back fully to the door and their hands fumbling for the handle behind them. It got me thinking. I tend to back out of the room, turned to my therapist but not enough to make direct eye/ forward facing body contact. Then I run down the hallway and depending on how I anxious I am I sometimes hide in the loos before I do the second half of leaving - through the waiting areas and signing out. When there are other people leaving at the same time I have an even bigger problem leaving and back up to the wall and freeze until they've gone or literally sprint out very flustered. I just wondered how other people leave their sessions and if they have any patterns that they do regularly/ritualistically?

 

[Changing4Best]

I just walk out, sit in the lobby of the building and wait for my transport home. Therapy goes well for me, and I have no problem with others who I might know seeing me there. I suppose it might be different if I were in the town I live in, but I am some dozen miles from where I live, so I rarely see anyone there who I know personally.

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

I used to exit sideways, half back to the door, while still making eye contact with the therapist, and then quickly dashing out of the building. :P

 

[FindingMyself88]

Thankfully my T's organization is in 2 houses downtown. You sign in at the one house, but my T is in the other house. Normally people sit in a living area where you sign in, but my T got permission for me to go sit outside on the front porch of the house she is in. So when I leave, I can go straight to my car without seeing anyone else really. If it was a bad session though my T will walk me outside and we will walk up and down the block some. She started this after December when I couldn't bring myself to leave her office and ended up going inpatient.

 

[theotherside]

I leave out of it..feeling like a weirdo...probably dissociated

 

[Casper1018]

I have 2 different therapists. Both get up and walk with me to the waiting room. Even after a tough session, this works well for me. My previous therapist just sat in her chair which always felt awkward.

 

[theotherside]

One time, i dont know how or why, we did a goodbye hug (T and myself)..then after that i felt obligated to the hug and it was stressful so i just did it..and if i almost forgot or didnt want to i still did it...im never doing that again. It was awkward

 

[scout86]

We seem to have turned "leaving" into something of a running joke.

At his original office, he walked out with me because he was going to meet his next client and we were going the same way. We have a tendency to wander off topic, and MIGHT walk out continuing a conversation that's not directly related to therapy, as such.

His new office is in a big building that resembles a rabbit warren. I commented the first time I was there that 1) It reminds me of a place I used to visit often in nightmares and 2) I had left a trail of bread crumbs so I could find my way out again. The first time, he offered to show me an easier route out than the one I'd taken in. Since then, he says, "Are you sure you're ok to walk out alone? I'll come with you." He's joking. I roll my eyes. We walk out together so he can see if his next client is there, and make a big show of worrying if I'm ok or not. It IS nice to know that he WOULD walk out with me, if I wasn't ok, and that the subject of whether or not I'm "ok" is on his radar screen. (By definition, no matter what's going on, I'm ALWAYS "ok". LOL) I have a sneaking suspicion he's doing this to make exactly that point. (That he KNOWS I always say that and that he knows that now and then it might not be true.)

 

[Deleted member 27340]

Usually my T gets up, opens the door out of her office and steps outside while I do the same and pass her a little. Then we say goodbye and I turn away and start walking down the hall, before I run down the stairs. Her office is in the third floor and she always comes down to get me while going to the session, and I tend to run up the stairs as well, two steps at a time. Poor T loses her breath :p Anyway after running down the stairs to leave the session I leave the building without looking anyone in the eyes before I walk down to the shopping centre and kill some time there before going to my bus, which can be one out of two routes and they both have the same stop right outside the centre. Good for me. Usually I buy something tasty to eat on the bus.

I guess the running is both because I'm slightly nervous and because I like moving, but rarely do because I never take initiative to activities. And the snacks, usually a bun/cinnamon roll /jelly doughnut, are probably to treat myself and to slow down my never-ending cravings for carbs and love for buns. :D

 

[Cool Cat]

My T says the session is over, I pay him, I put on my coat and try to do it in a way that is prompt but not rushed.
Then I leave, back first. But I do have a problem...I often leave not fully grounded and can be dizzy or not fully 'there' leaving therapy. I have lost things leaving therapy including a debit card.

 

[Cool Cat]

(By definition, no matter what's going on, I'm ALWAYS "ok". LOL)

I'm exactly the same!! That's why I have problems leaving.
Like they put that question on you but what would they do if you said "No actually, I'm not okay, I feel exhausted/dizzy etc"
And he's about to either go home or meet his next client?

 

[scout86]

if you said "No actually, I'm not okay, I feel exhausted/dizzy etc"

It might be interesting to try that. ;)