How to prepare your therapist for what you’ll be like after visiting your hometown this winter

There’s no denying that you’ve made a ton of progress since you started seeing your current therapist, and she knows it. You’re a therapy star! But all that is about to change, and it’s only fair that you warn her.

Here are some helpful phrases you can use to gently prepare her for the monster you’ll be after visiting your hometown:

1. “Thank you so much for teaching me to look inward for strength. However, after seeing tons of people from high school who started families before me, it is possible that I will spiral out of control, and that is not a reflection on you.”
2. “I truly commend your ability to help me recognize that my over-eating habits are directly tied to negative emotions. My impulse control is off the charts these days! All of that could go out the window the moment I’m back in my high school bedroom with all my high school poetry journals.”
3. “The fact that you’ve taken the time to learn the names of and ask about important people in my life makes me feel trusted and validated. You should know that I will be introducing an absurd amount of names into our next session, ranging from casual acquaintances who look at me weird in my parents’ church to high school ex-boyfriends’ new babies.”
4. “I will be texting you to ask for a Xanax prescription any time I see the Denny’s I got dumped in. Feel free to ignore that. I usually get over it in like 15 minutes.”
5. “If the song ‘How to Save a Life’ by The Fray comes on my hometown radio station when I am driving anywhere near my high school, I will have to pull the car over because I will start weeping immediately. I do not know what it means. Let’s go ahead and schedule a session about that.”
6. “It is likely that I will find out a close friend from high school is a serial abuser of women while I’m out getting drinks, and I will abandon all logic and start practicing witchcraft. Like, full-on, spending ALL of my money on crystals and voodoo dolls from Etsy.”
7. “The work that we’ve done here has really helped me prepare for tough situations in advance. But seeing people and places from my past will trigger years of emotional trauma that I just cannot access until I am actually there. Not on you, girl!”

She deserves to know why all her hard work is about to be undone. Let her know gently, and prepare her for another full year of sessions rebuilding you to the point you’re at today.