Do you tell your therapist everything?

Whenever I see a psychotherapist, I'm usually more open with them than I am with most people. I figure they've probably talked to people with worse situations than mine. But I don't always tell them everything that's bothering me. Should I tell them or is it okay to keep certain things to myself, even from my therapist?

I would recommend telling them any information you think would be helpful for them to know. Unless, of course, you really don't want to get your moneys worth. It's almost the same as taking your car to a mechanic every other week to try and figure out why your brakes keep wearing out so fast. It's up to you to tell him, or not, that you drive with your foot resting on the brake pedal. But if you don't say anything, you can't really blame him for not being as helpful as you would like.

I agree - you should tell them.

I usually tell my psychologist everything and it's pretty hard to keep things from her anyway, but she is really awesome so that helps.

As long as you're ok with telling them, I think you should, then they can help

That depends. Generally the sensible thing is to tell them everything. However, for certain specific reasons you might not want to say certain things. You must have a good reason for not saying those things, so you have to figure out if you have such reason. It doesn't make much sense to withhold any information otherwise or just because you're uptight.

Anxious wrote:Whenever I see a psychotherapist, I'm usually more open with them than I am with most people. I figure they've probably talked to people with worse situations than mine. But I don't always tell them everything that's bothering me. Should I tell them or is it okay to keep certain things to myself, even from my therapist?

I do yes, my old pdoc anyways, I was very comfortable with her and was with her for over 12 yrs.
If you don't tell your therapist how you feel, what makes you feel the way that you do, any negative thoughts or concerns they aren't able to treat you to the best that they can. My therapists know it all.

This really highlights how important it is to have a good therapist. I have routinely not told my therapists everything because I could see where they did not have the ability to handle the information I withheld. But I think this was a reflection of their inadequecies. If I had a therapist that I was 100% confident, I would tell them more. But I also don't think you need to tell them everything. It is very specific to what concern you are trying to address with them what you need to tell them. The most important thing is to have a good therapist that you get along with and feel confident with. Good luck.

You're right whoknew, if you are not comfortable with the person whose supposed to help you and you've been there long enough it's time to find someone else.


You can ask for a referral straight from your therapist, they will (or should) be able to locate someone else who may be a better fit for you. I've been lucky with mine, though my old psychiatrist was my best fit, my current social worker (Someone i've not seen for months now) was good ,though the one before that not so much...

Don't just settle for anyone.

Thanks. It's been a couple months since I stopped seeing my therapist. I didn't feel comfortable telling her everything about myself. I guess eventually I'll have to start looking for another one.

I generaly don't tell my tharapist everything because i'm very rarely comfortable with dare i say it - (pay to listen to me) type of person, one guy he was cool and i told him way more than i told the other tharapist's but only got to see him once and wanted him to be my tharapist because i was wide open comfortable with him.. he dident give me the calm look over stuff i told him but he reacted realistic but still repecting me i liked that alot.

.