![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 11 of 11. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Augustina on March 4, 2005, at 16:59:12
Has anyone changed their therapy appointment day to accommodate for times during the week when you feel worse than other times? (sorry, not sure if that made sense or not).
I see my T on Wednesdays but have noticed that I have a lot more issues by the end of the week and with the weekend approaching, my emotional state is also a little more heightened. I’m considering changing my day to a Thursday or Friday to see if that would help but wonder if others have made changes like that with some success?
Posted by alexandra_k on March 4, 2005, at 17:58:09
In reply to Is end of week better for appointments?, posted by Augustina on March 4, 2005, at 16:59:12
I used to like having therapy on Monday.
Weekends were the worst for me - so having an appointment on Monday helped get me through the weekend. I guess different people have different high and low times.And sometimes it is helpful to have an appointment just before one of those, or at the end of one of those, or right in the middle of one of those...
I guess you just need to experiment and find out which you prefer.
Posted by Dinah on March 4, 2005, at 18:38:56
In reply to Is end of week better for appointments?, posted by Augustina on March 4, 2005, at 16:59:12
I generally go Tuesdays and Fridays, and if I have to give one up, I'm keeping Fridays. Absolutely.
But that's more him than me. I'm sometimes his only client on Friday. He almost always dresses down on Friday. And with his more relaxed clothing, he seems more relaxed too. I wouldn't give up Fridays for anything.
The weekends are the best time for me, and I always think that seeing him Monday would be a complete waste of time. If I only went once a week, Wed, Thurs or Fri would be best (except for the dress-down Friday thing).
Posted by Daisym on March 4, 2005, at 20:53:54
In reply to Is end of week better for appointments?, posted by Augustina on March 4, 2005, at 16:59:12
I just changed my Wed to Tuesday (even if I'm still mostly going Tuesday and Wednesday right now...) I did this because I have a standing Monday appointment but it takes so long for me to reconnect and get anchored and catch up and talk about everything that I fall apart having to wait to finish until Wednesday. So I'm going to try M/T and see if that continuity works better. My therapist doesn't see clients on Fridays but we typically talk on the phone for 1/2 a hour.
I find that the time of day I go makes a bigger difference. I'm much more willing to open up at the end of the day than in the middle or in the morning.
Posted by Dinah on March 4, 2005, at 21:06:08
In reply to Re: Is end of week better for appointments?, posted by Daisym on March 4, 2005, at 20:53:54
I do so much better in the mornings. We're meeting at 8 am right now. My emotional self runs free at night, and in the morning I don't have to work to bring myself to therapy and get in that mode. I just show up.
Posted by Augustina on March 4, 2005, at 21:25:27
In reply to Re: Is end of week better for appointments? » Augustina, posted by Dinah on March 4, 2005, at 18:38:56
Dinah,
do you find that you have much more to talk about on Fridays versus Tuesdays? I know this depends on a lot of factors of course but I feel like I'd have more to report to my T at the end of the week. I'm wondering if the "relaxed" Friday-feeling would also make me a little less inhibited during sessions. Do you find that?
-A.
Posted by Dinah on March 4, 2005, at 21:41:47
In reply to Re: Is end of week better for appointments? » Dinah, posted by Augustina on March 4, 2005, at 21:25:27
Fridays seem to flow smoother. Less silences where it almost feels like a battle. But that's because he's more open and relaxed, I think. Or I perceive him to be more open and relaxed because he's in jeans. No, I think he really is.
Which makes my reaction totally a function of how he is, and nothing at all to do with me. I rarely talk about what happens, so I'm not sure I'd have more to talk about. But I do generally feel more rotten during the week, because work is my major stresser now. So sessions first thing Monday, when no one's been calling me asking for their work, are likely to skip those issues.
Posted by Poet on March 5, 2005, at 12:22:05
In reply to Is end of week better for appointments?, posted by Augustina on March 4, 2005, at 16:59:12
Hi Augustina,
I usually see my T on Thursdays, but this past week I saw her on Tuesday. I think when I need to see her depends on what's going on with me.
Poet
Posted by Aphrodite on March 5, 2005, at 14:44:16
In reply to Is end of week better for appointments?, posted by Augustina on March 4, 2005, at 16:59:12
I go twice per week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. The Thurs. session is the most helpful because it tides me over for the weekend when most of my triggers occur and when the depression has time to settle in on me. I also prefer night to day; when I go in the day, it feels like another business meeting and I end up talking about work because I am in that mode. My weepy self shows up at night. (Hmmm . . . maybe my T prefers those day sessions. LOL.)
Posted by antigua on March 7, 2005, at 15:15:39
In reply to Is end of week better for appointments?, posted by Augustina on March 4, 2005, at 16:59:12
I like my Wednesday mornings at 9:00 am. It gets me through the rest of the week and to the end of the weekend. I start to fall Sunday night or Monday morning in anticipation of the next session. LIke clockwork. Most of my significant dreams are early in the week. I like early in the morning so I don't have to think about going so much --I just go. If I'm a mess, I also go on Thursdays.
antigua
Posted by shrinking violet on March 8, 2005, at 18:37:26
In reply to Is end of week better for appointments?, posted by Augustina on March 4, 2005, at 16:59:12
Hm, interesting question. It probably depends on the person, and the T, and the type of therapy, etc. For a while, I had Tuesday evening appts with my T (who works for a University Counseling Center), and I loved them; it was quiet and very cozy. I was her last appt of the day also, which I liked. What was hard was knowing that she was at the office for the rest of the week, and sometimes I felt I needed/wanted contact with her. In a way it was good, because I knew she was there if I did need her, but sometimes it was painful, and I felt like I needed sessions more later in the week than at the beginning of one. For the past couple of months I've started to see her on a Friday morning (I have a class during my former T time on Tuesdays this semester), and at first I didn't like it much.....I didn't like the brightness, or the time (ugh, who feels like talking to anyone at 10 am, let alone about therapy stuff?! lol), or the fact that it was a bit more busy in the office since it was during the day. My T generally doesn't like Fri appts either, but I'm pretty sure she has one or two others besides me on that day, and it is probably her slowest day in regards to sessions. Now, I think I almost like the Friday appts more....I think I feel safer knowing that if something happens during the week I'll have my T to help me with it before the weekend (whereas before I would have had to wait), and seeing her on the day before the weekend usually (not always) "holds" me together better for the weekend when I'm on my own most of the time. Also, and this is going to sound horrid, but I think that since I see my T at the end of the week, I'm on her mind more over the weekend than I was before or, rather, she has a harder time containing it than she used to. For instance, a few weeks ago I melted down during session, and ended up sobbing on her shoulder for a while. That weekend, she emailed me and told me I was on her mind all weekend and she hopes I'm ok and to call her if I need anything (I was thrilled to hear from her, and so very touched by what she did and wrote). A week or two later, a similar episode occurred during session and, that weekend while she was grocery shopping, she bought me a flower and gave it to me the next time I saw her (it didn't turn out as either one of us had hoped, but that's another story)! I guess I can see why *she* as a T doesn't necessarily prefer Friday sessions!
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Psychology | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.