Hello Confused
It sounds like that is something you need to talk through with your therapist, each T/C works in their own way. I think most make notes but not in any great detail, probably just one or two lines to jog their memory of a session if needs be. I guess some therapists record sessions, but that’s rare and would be with the agreement of the client, and a few Ts may take more extensive notes during session but don’t think the majority do, so it may depend on who you’re seeing and how they work. You can say whatever you want or need to say, and you can ask for things not to be put in your notes too. They are your notes and in most instances you are allowed to read them if you wish to, I imagine most Ts would understand the need to keep certain things out of them. All notes in professional organisations are locked securely away, with access only being to your T and you, certainly I suppose there’s always a small chance that someone could break in and steal stuff and read it, but really that’s quite unlikely. Information wouldn’t be passed on to your family to put on the family tree, and in most instances notes are destroyed after a certain length of time after session work ends. You have the absolute choice of what you do or don’t tell your T. There are lots of things you don’t need to keep secret out of shame anymore, but you have every right to privacy and keeping your personal information personal to you and those you wish to share it with.
I guess there are some instances where confidentiality may have to be broken on some level eg. if a child’s life is at risk, but most Ts would talk that through with the client and probably encourage the client to be involved in the telling, and also it wouldn’t necessarily mean divulging all a person’s details or life history. But again, you could talk this through with your therapist and see what guidelines s/he follows.
Hope you find a place where you can tell and share what you need to.
Keep safe
Libbi
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