Posted by pinkeye on July 22, 2004, at 13:36:43
In reply to email contact after termination, posted by gardenergirl on July 21, 2004, at 23:56:47
Hi GG,
I have been in contact with my T for about two years now through emails. He allows me to write to him as much as I wish. But he replies maybe about once in a month or two. I wrote to him on different frequencies, initially once every two weeks, sometimes once a month, back to once every two weeks, sometimes more than one mails in a week etc.My T's continued support to me through emails is a God Send Gift. I wouldn't have evolved so much if he had strictly adhered to the rules and cut off contact with me. I needed to know that he really cared about me as a person, just not a patient. 2 years later, I have evolved so much, all thanks to his support. Even just writing to him helped me process all my thoughts, and made me take better decisions. That said, he never replies at once. He always replies atleast a week later. In retrospect I think it is a good strategy to do, so you give your patient time to think about what she/he wrote to you and help themselves.
My case was a little different though, I was in my home country and had to meet him during a crisis, and I had to leave back for US without having full therapy done. So he allowed me to write to him without hesitations. And his replies initially were full detailed. But now, that I am much better, his replies are more generic and short. And generally along the lines "sorry you are going through, glad you are doing well" etc. And in our country where he practices, the rules are not as strict as in US, and he knows he won't get sued. So if you have to obey stricter rules to protect yourself here, go for it.
Therapy cannot be done like a business transaction, once your business gets done, move away. It has to be done more as a personal relationship. So do by all means atleast reply to your patient. Even if a short one. You don't have to reply to all her/his emails continuously. Once in a while replying with a short emails would be excellent. If you feel you can continue doing therapy via emails and your boundary won't get violated, by all means do that as well. Or if that is too much for you, just reply generally asking them to seek professional help somewhere else.
poster:pinkeye
thread:368821
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040716/msgs/369013.html