How much to disclose in new patient forms....

[Guest]

I have my first appt. coming up with a new T.

First of all, he emailed saying that first several appts. will be to see if we are a good fit for each other. So after i disclose everything, he just might say no to me? that part is making me anxious that he may not want to work with me and will be evaluating me .

I went through the forms and it asked about previous Therapy . I have gone to another therapist for 2 yrs. with no improvement. and in the form it asked the name of the therapist and duration of treatment(dates) address , phone number, modality etc.
i wish NOT to provide this. but dont want to get on a bad start with this T by withholding info.
should i just leave it blank...? if he asks what should i say? why i dont want to disclose? have you guys shared this info. with ur current T's (names of previous T's)?

Also in forms, it asks about Self harm, suicide ideation, CSA...etc/. it took me 1.5 yrs. to disclose to my old T about self harm.(it was not in patient forms).
I just dont feel comfortable laying EVERYTHING out there about myself on this paper and he asking me related questions in the session. should i leave it blank? fill it honestly and just face it. i am thinking it might be TOO MUCH info. for initial session for a T.

This T is also a MD and Psy. on the forms it even asks about the menstrual cycle...hmm...date of last cycle...yikes!

 

[mrsps]

Wow I would be freaking about filling in forms that want that much detail. Is it a form that your T personally has developed for their clients or is this a normal thing in your country?
I would leave the things you are not comfortable disclosing blank and if they ask say you are not comfortable disclosing them yet until you have developed a relationship together. As you say you might not be a good fit and part ways.
There needs to be trust and feel comfortable with a T to be able to tell all those difficult secrets
I hope this T understands that you are not willing to give all these details so early on.

 

[Ronin]

The last time I did those, I disclosed the very minimum.

Basically a single area we were building the therapeutic contract for. Figured we can always expand on it if/as needed & go deeper if I come to trust them.

Current non-therapeutic NGO I'm in touch with that asked about these things, I've been very upfront with, since they're trying to help me out financially & complex wise, so it'd be detrimential to myself to not disclose.

 

[FauxLiz]

I have had the misfortune over the years of seeing many doctors, specialists, psychiatrists and psychologists. I have noticed more and more in this country (US) that new patient forms are asking for info about self harm etc as these professionals are mandated reports and have in my opinion the misconception that it is easier for a patient to tell them about these things on a form than in person. They have forgotten the trust factor that needs to exist before disclosure can happen.

As for the information about your previous therapist I would leave it blank. The only question for that type of information that I have ever provided my T was for my primary care physician. He doesn't know my Pdoc's info and in all cases I have refused to sign a consent form allowing him to contact my other physicians. Just leave the area blank if he asks in the session I agree with @mrsps that you can simply state that you will not consider disclosing that information until a therapeutic relationship has formed.

 

[WishfulThinking123]

Ok I'm just going to put my opinion this way- when T type up their notes per session they are usually very minimal, they don't go into a lot of detail in case they are ever subpoenaed to release them then other lawyers, etc.. cant gather much from them. However, those intake forms that some T use go into ALOT of detail. Therefore maybe I am just paranoid based upon my own prior experiences but, to ensure your confidentiality so to speak if records are ever subpoenaed (you never know) plus you haven't built a relationship with this T yet I would not go into a lot of detail at all. You can tell her things first session in person if you would like but writing it down on paper would make me a little nervous..

 

[UnicornSightings]

I never had a long form to fill out and don't know if I would feel comfortable putting all of that there. You don't HAVE to. Do what you want. Therapy is for YOU.

I DID have a long assessment at the beginning (I think over 3 weeks) where she would ask me a lot of questions. That was sorta uncomfortable. The MOST uncomfortable question was "have you ever molested anyone" or maybe it was "have you ever molested a kid" which was HORRIFYING! Like omfg no how could you EVER ask me that?!!! I was offended that anyone could think such a thing. And she had the same face as when she had asked me any other question. Man, they deal with a LOT. I don't think I could be a therapist to a child molester. No.... ok I may have gotten off track here lol.

Main point, write what you feel comfortable with. You won't be the first one to not fill it out completely. Your new therapist can deal. And if not, get a new one.

 

[Friday]

So after i disclose everything, he just might say no to me? that part is making me anxious that he may not want to work with me and will be evaluating me .

I've -fairly recently- interviewed several dozen therapists. I would be furious if any of them kept me on as a client if their experience & training did not match my needs & trauma. Can say that, because I've done that one, before. Both because they "liked" me ( :wtf: I'm not interviewing for friends, or on a dating service, here :mad: If you ACTUALLY liked me? You would have sent me to your colleague who specializes in my stuff, not kept me on wasting my time, so I could pay to hang out with someone. I. Am. Not. Hiring. A. Friend. I was trying to hire a therapist); and because they thought they could help me, even though they had exactly zip zero nada zilch experience working with someone who wasn't a victim of childhood trauma. :banghead: and furthermore specialized in a disorder that. I. don't. have. <<< No therapy is better than BAD therapy. And that's all both of those 2 knuckleheads could give me. Bad therapy. No matter how brilliant the therapist? No matter how amazing they are at their job? No one specializes in everything. If they know in the first 10 minutes that I am outside their skill set? Keeping me on for 1 month, 1 year, 10 years? Waste of my life.

So I'd say that's a really good sign towards this therapist being a responsible, ethical person out the gate! :tup:

I just dont feel comfortable laying EVERYTHING out there about myself on this paper and he asking me related questions in the session. should i leave it blank? fill it honestly and just face it. i am thinking it might be TOO MUCH info. for initial session for a T.

I'm actually hugely fond of very in depth initial appointments. Both in paperwork & interviews. Not only is ticking boxes & yes/no answers on a form a helluva lot easier than talking about shit, but it gets everything out there on the table from the word go. Yeah, we might spend a year on something that took me 2 seconds to check off, but we didn't waste year getting to that point, and then another year on it! Yay!

My only caveat with all of this is that I remain anonymous for the first few appointments, where we're figuring out if we can work together, at least. So if I don't like the person? Pfft. No worries. I'm gone. They don't have my name, much less my contact info, or official whatever. So they have exactly zero power over me. So I can be completely honest with exactly zero consequence. Being completely honest? Is f*cking important to me. If I'm not honest? How can they help me? They can't. Nor can I judge accurately if they can help me. So both of our hands are tied. I prefer not to work tied up, whenever possible. It's hard enough to deal with this shit without adding even more layers of difficulty. Done that one, too. When they're colleagues &/or required therapy with work. Which can be hilarious, because we both know we're working with a lot of limitations, or frustrating if the person is an ass, but the whole thing is largely pointless, IMO. Not entirely. But largely. If I'm seeking help? f*ck pointless. Let's do this thing, for real, right now.

 

[whiteraven]

My only caveat with all of this is that I remain anonymous for the first few appointments, where we're figuring out if we can work together, at least.

Wow...how have you managed to do that? I have never been in a situation where I can even be seen without filling out a shitload of paperwork.

 

[Friday]

Wow...how have you managed to do that? I have never been in a situation where I can even be seen...

I call. Do a brief phone interview. Set up an appointment time. Go in.

Interview appointments are nearly always free, but if not? Then I find out how much during the phone interview. Pay in cash. Leave.

Like I said, I like packets of getting-to-know-you stuff (saves so much time), but they're usually downloadable with a guest access code on their website, or I show up early. If I do continue on with them, there's usually the standard consent to care, safety contract, HPPA, etc. But, again, none of that stuff is at all relevant until I've decided if I'm going to be coming back past the initial interview appt.

Are you trying to get everything preapproved & paid for by insurance? I haven't had insurance with mental health benefits since... f*ck. IDK. 2004? One of the upsides to that, maybe? Less paperwork? But, still, I can't imagine why anyone would fill out insurance paperwork for interviewing 10-20 therapists before even interviewing them :wtf: Not only eye crossing, but seems like it's too much potential for paperwork screwups, or using up all your benefits just finding someone.

***

ETA... I've been interviewing ADHD therapists once or twice a year since the late 80s. THAT system I have down to an art form. Find my top 10-20 online (these days). Call. Brief phone interview. Meet in person with the top 3-5. Pick my fav. Voila. Every so occasionally, ditch #1 for a runner up after a few sessions. Which is also when I usually start billing insurance, after the first few sessions. Once I'm fairly certain of who I'm goin to be seeing for the next 6-18mo. If there's a deductible? The first few out of pocket sessions go towards it. If not? Then I'm out a couple hundred dollars for the first few sessions, but not tangled up in paperwork purgatory. Which is worth it for me.

Trauma therapists? :wtf: OMFG. It's been a nightmare. People who say they specialize in ADHD? Usually do -in point fact- specialize in ADHD (these days). People who say they specialize in PTSD? Not so much. :banghead: Over 2,000 of them in my city, about 200 actually do. Of those 200? none actually have experience in my trauma background. Which I know, because I've been on the phone with all 200 some odd of them. I hate phones. And I also hate talking about this shut (which means breaking out my very very short supply of antianxiety meds). So it's something I tackled in batches over a period of about 6 months.

 

[zoie33]

I'm sure many will disagree but personally I would have to agree with answering the questions honestly. I mean they're still withheld to confidentiality it's not like they can share this information with anybody without you giving your permission. So why not give them all the facts up front. If they're interviewing you to see if you are a good match with them part of that is if they have the skills to help you. If they don't know what your problem is they can't determine that as shown by this forum. There are way too many people going to therapists that are not able to help them correctly so why waste your time and be one of those statistics. I think the therapist is doing you a favor by asking those questions up front. I got lucky I found a great trauma therapist I was honest on my intake papers he knew about the suicide attempts all of those things at least that's something I didn't have to talk about. It didn't have to come up as an unknown later down the road it's not something that I failed to check off on a box and now he's thinking I'm dishonest or worse yet he doesn't want to deal with suicidal clients so he decides to terminate me a year into it. Sorry, one of my issues involves total honesty so that is just my opinion. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[gealach]

From a patient/client point of view, I understand the reluctance to share information. Absolutely. From the health care provider point of view, I can't help the patient/client if they aren't being honest... whether it's medical history, current symptoms, or medications... what the patient doesn't tell me (or what they lie about), can cause them serious harm or death. Also, once I discover there's been dishonesty, for any reason, the patient/client has burned all their currency and I scrutinize everything that much more. I have to have a higher index of suspicion and I'll withhold medication or treatment, because I can't trust that it will help while not doing harm. Then at the ED I have to explain to the doc that the patient/client has been withholding/omitting/lying, and the doc has to start over again from zero, which delays care.:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: Also, I might not have what the patient/client needs, but I don't know that because they aren't being forthcoming. If I know, I can meet a unit en route that has what the patient needs, or I can call ahead and have the ED on standby - narcotic pain control, or blood products for example.

In this case you're concerned about trusting the Pdoc, that doc also has to trust you to be honest, or else what's the point? Asking about harm/SI/attempts is fair. If this Pdoc can prescribe or recommend meds, then asking about your physical health is also fair, and required. This Pdoc also needs to know that s/he has both the scope and the skills to help you, but without knowing your history and needs, it's just a guess. Answer what you can, be prepared to discuss the rest, and let you and the Pdoc both figure out if this can be successful, before you get a year into treatment and realize, if xyz had been known a year ago you would have been referred to someone who can actually help you.

Do you have a plan for self care after the first session? the first few sessions?

 

[whiteraven]

I call. Do a brief phone interview. Set up an appointment time. Go in.

Interview appointments are nearl...

Thank you for your detailed response!

I actually used to go through insurance for all my therapists, but the current one (or last one, I haven't decided which he is yet) is self-pay. But yeah...I could never afford to do that. I just don't have any extra money to "shop around." I could totally do the phone interviews, but I just can't manage a few tryout sessions (or even one with 3 or 4) until I find the right fit. I struggle finding enough money to eat sometimes, as it is. And insurance (at least mine) doesn't allow it. Even if the therapists wouldn't mind a few sessions without all the paperwork, it doesn't allow you to jump around. I've tried that before, and they won't pay because they claim you are being noncompliant with treatment.

I've checked here and the initial, introductory sessions (not sure if that is different from an interview session?) are almost always higher in cost.

Thanks again. Probably not gonna do this anytime soon, anyway, because my therapy issue is a mess. But a good conversation.