So embarrassed about therapy sessions. Can't stop thinking about it! Help!

[Megan99]

So I went to therapy for the first time. It was a short term arrangement at my university. My counselor was a really nice person and seemed to be genuinly trying to help me. I told told him all kinds of things because I wanted to be open from the start to get the maximum out of it. But all the stuff I said was really disjointed because I was nervous from my social anxiety. I told him so many things that I never have told anyone in my whole life. I even mentioned that I felt like was getting too attatched to him because I didn't have much of a father figure in my life. He seemed to undertsand and told me that I need to develop independance by applying the things he taught me. He never showed any signs of being weirded out by me or angry at me. Now, after all the sessions, I am embarassed beyond my mind. I can't stop thinking about all the things I told this person. I know he's a counselor, but I just told another living breathing human all sorts of embarassing things. Everyday I think about what he could have thought of me. I get terrfied that I will run into him sometime. This whole thing seemed to have backfired because of my stupid social anxiety. I know he's a therapist and must have seen and heard everything by now. Whatever I told him must have not even been that big of a deal. But I am still soooooooooo embarassed! Can anyone relate?

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think this is pretty normal, it's not just about social anxiety. There has always been a negative stigma about any sort of therapy as if it's a weakness to open up to them. That's changing as more of us go through stuff like this.

They are bound by confidentiality. So, anything said in session won't be repeated outside other than if some element of the law overrides it e.g. safeguarding someone in danger for some reason.

They really will have heard a lot the more years they work in those fields. If you think about a counsellor at a college/university it's likely he/she will have heard more than just the stresses over courses because many students may come form difficult backgrounds or suffering abuse. They may also have students with substance abuse addictions or personality disorders who need support outside of their main therapy.

It's really quite normal to feel like this. Before I had therapy I would never have be so open about things. And the more I've talked to people on here about the many anxieties we go through the more I feel able to talk to a professional if I ever do again as my therapy ended ages ago.