Both are totally unprofessional. I’m not saying there’s any recourse but don’t doubt yourself, both of those are really shitty–particularly in a mental health services setting.
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10 minutes late one time with an apology is no big deal. If it’s a pattern or no apology I’d be mad.
I’ve experienced this. It was maddening. there’s back-story but it boils down to this: I had to do six sessions with an addiction counselor. Guy took no insurance and was the only person with that particular set of skills.
He was late, every session. Sometimes I’d be in his waiting room and hear him doing other sessions that seemed to have run long. Other times he simply wasn’t there. … Maybe it was a power thing (he did essentially-maybe extort an extra session). I was in session with him once and heard someone come in, sit, wait and leave … just seemed kind of crazy, really.
Anyway, it always struck me as really unprofessional to not be super-punctual as a mental health provider, but maybe it is not uncommon.
Yeah, this.
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I’d be more pissed about doubling the cost.
I don’t mind if my therapy sessions are 5-10 minutes shorter than an hour. If I get something out of it then that’s enough to offset the reduced time.
However, I think I’d be more annoyed by having sessions start late than having them end early. Still would annoy me less than the cost doubling.
Maybe she’s trying to tell you she thinks you need a new therapist without telling you that you need a new therapist.
Was she giving you a reduced rate before due to studying/lower income? That’s the only way I could reconcile having such a hefty increase. Fwiw $180 is in the ballpark of what they charge in Australia. No way I could find someone for 90 bucks.
Yea she was and then we talked one session about my income and she jacked it up shortly after
Well, if she was giving you a discount because you couldn’t afford it and now you can, that changes how I’d view the situation significantly.
If her rate now is comparable to what others are charging, then I’d just be grateful that she gave me a discount for some time.
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Money absolutely buys happiness up to a point. After like $100k/year (or i think it was $80k in some studies) the marginal utility of wealth starts going way down. There’s only so much to spend money on.
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If everyone buys into this then it would seem that anyone making less than that should view making more money as a factor in improving mental health. And they should be trying hard to do it. But I don’t think that specific advice is very common.
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happiness as it correlates to having money is not purely about consumption. It is about having enough to fulfill your basic needs without worry or stress, having the security of being able to pay for emergencies or bad runs of luck, and being able to afford to do things you enjoy (like travel).
It is a well studied topic - wealth absolutely increases happiness to a point. That point depends on where you live and what your needs are, but there is a point where it definitely does.
In my own life, I am far happier not having to worry about money than when I was barely scraping by and not making it.
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If everyone had say 250K in the bank for emergencies (way less in a country with proper healthcare), I’m pretty sure no one would need more than say 30K or so to max out on money = happiness.
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If everyone had 250 K in the bank for emergencies, then most would use it for non-emergencies and return to a state of zero in the bank for emergencies within a few years.
Good point. So let’s have the government take on that responsibility. Like some sort of…net…to catch anyone who falls on hard times. It would be like a net…for social security.
Did you share your recent experience in Vegas with her?
She might have overplayed her hand.
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I don’t think your individual case is going to be that informative because, you are quite different from most people. But I’m sure you are aware of that.
Also I wanted to comment on this part:
I don’t think there is much conflating going on. I think what most people are saying is that when you are well above the threshold (100K or whatever you think it may be, I’m sure most would agree there is one even if they don’t agree on the precise amount), then adding some money won’t buy you happiness and losing some money won’t really cause unhappiness.
On the other hand if you are well below this threshold, then your lack of money will likely be causing unhappiness and increasing your money at that point will buy you happiness (insofar as it mitigates the cause of your unhappiness). I don’t think holding this view is conflating anything.
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This is an insightful post. Given jmakin’s description of his therapist and the fact that all women are into jmakin (I am not saying this to mock), the reason for the increase is more likely to be scorn.
I wouldn’t go that far. I’d say the most likely scenario is he was getting a discount previously.
I think the therapist already knew he could afford the full rate. The reason for the change is not because jmakin disclosed his salary. It could be because she’s just cleaning up her books or has way too much business now or whatever.